Of fire and rescue
by Dustyiscool1
Summary: Dedicated to the brave firefighters around the world who risk their lives to save the lives of others. When Dusty finds out that his gearbox is busted he must take a turn in life. Join Dusty and Belinda as they fly high in a brand new adventure.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter 1: Prologue

It has been 4 years since the day I appeared in Propwash junction and met Dusty Chropphoper and followed him in the world race. The days before that I hardly think about. I hardly told Dusty much about where I came from.

It had just been another happy day in our herd. I was only a 4 year old Pegasus messing with the other young Pegasus's playing chase. My father Storm had died and another stallion had taken his place. His name was Dagger and he was not very friendly. I was helping my best friend Marigold when he attacked me. I called why and he said that because I had special powers he was going to kill me.

My mother attacked him screaming at me to run so I took off at a flat out gallop across the field and into the thick bush. I ran for my life and didn't stop till I was miles away. I pulled up wounded and exhausted near a stream. I knew my mother was dead and I was an outcast. I roamed the bush till some famers saw me and tried to catch me.

Even though I was caught I never stopped fighting and attacking them. One day I escaped and ran off with them hot on my hooves. Suddenly there was a bright light and I found myself in Propwash. And that was where the adventure began.

I sighed as I watch Dusty fly overhead. Yep things had defiantly changed for the better.


	2. Chapter 2: Trouble

It had only taken that one win in the Wings Around the Globe Rally to launch Dusty Crophopper into infamy. I was famous to but I preferred to keep to myself. The three years after had just been an adventure. Watching Dusty race and practice was very exciting. Often when Dusty was not training of racing we would play our on little games like hide and seek and chase. Dusty always had trouble finding me because I was good at hiding but he can out fly me now.

Now, with it being the middle of summer, Dusty and I had decided to return home to Propwash for a while. The entire town was preparing for their annual Corn Fest, my favourite time of year next to winter, which was happening in a month.

"Awesome picture Dust!" Sparky said, picking up a newspaper outside the Fill N' Fly. "Except, uh, your eyes are closed."

"Nice" I answered dropping my apple that I was eating to look at the photo.

"Racin' with your eyes closed' huh?" laughed Chug as he finished filling up Dusty. "So that's your secret"

"Oh yeah." Dusty nodded. "You figured it out chug"

"I told you that you couldn't keep that as a secret for long" I laughed only to earn a thwap in the wing from Dusty. "Ouch" I yelp and turn to lick my wing.

"That was some pretty fancy flying Dusty" said Mayday. "You and Belinda make quite a team. Saw it all on my radio with pictures." Dusty, Chug, Sparky and I blink.

"You mean your TV" Dusty guessed.

"No, no, that's clearing up." Said Mayday getting the wrong idea, "My bumper was nearly corroded right though. Disgusting looking. Ah, yeah, it was all rusty and blistered."

"Charming, Mayday." I said with a not so amused tone. My ears were partly back to show that I was not amused but Mayday took no notice.

"Anyway, what else is going on?" Dusty asked, clearly hopping to change the subject.

"Dottie gave me some of that Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment. Ka-chow!" Mayday spun round, causing the boys and me to jump when he showed off. Dusty did his best to avert his eyes, Sparky hid behind the newspaper he held, Chug, oddly enough, found himself staring and I hid my head under my wing.

"How's it look now?" he asked.

"Looks great. Fine." Dusty said hurriedly.

"Take a closer look!" said Mayday.

"That's close enough!" said poor Dusty. We jumped when something fell off Mayday's undercarriage. I looked around surprised.

"What was that?" Mayday asked.

"Nothing!" I said "But you should go see Dottie."

"Didn't need to see that." Dusty muttered.

"Oh, hey, hey, guys, guys!" Sparky piped up. "Listen to this! 'After Dusty,s Red Bulldozer win, Dusty Crophopper and Belinda…."

"That's you" Chug said pointed at us.

"'Returns to Propwash Junction…'"

"That's here." Mayday said.

"' ….where they will be performing at the town's annual Corn Festival.'" Sparky finished excitedly.

"They mentioned the Corn Festival?" Mayday asked, surprised.

"Whoa!" Chug gasped. "It's national news!"

"Seriously?" Dusty asked happily. "That's great!"

"Yee-har" I cried rearing in joy.

"I'll say!" Brodi called from across the road. "The phones been ringing off the hook here at the motel! Gonna have to get out the inflatable hangars."

"Oh, yeah!" Brodi's wife agreed. "Everybody want to see you two!"

"This is awesome!" I said prancing on the spot in excitement.

"It's gonna be the biggest Corn Fest yet!" Dusty agreed. Just then Skipper turned up propeller spinning.

"Dusty! Belinda!" Skipper greeted us. "Ready to do some flying?" he asked.

"Absolutely Skipper." Dusty said.

"Yes" I yell spreading my wings.

"Don't stay out too late!" Mayday called.

"Later guys" Sparky waved.

"Remember to open your eyes!" Chug chuckled. I shook my mane and trotted after them.

"Hey, Propwash Tower! This is Crophopper Seven. Flight of three, ready for take-off." Said Dusty. "Crophopper Seven, Propwash Tower." I hear the attendant in the tower say over the radio. "Wind's calm. Runway two-seven clear for take-off. Have a great flight, fellas."

"Crophopper seven on the roll" said Dusty taking off with Skipper.

I got a running start and soon joined Dusty and Skipper in the air. I looked down at Propwash Junction and the corn fields as I flew next to Dusty. I watched as the three grain silos appeared in front of us.

"Snap into those turns!" Skipper called into the radio. Dusty was doing well as we weaved through the silos.

"Tighten it up! There you go!" called Skipped as he kept close behind us as we flew. The bridge was coming up fast and we had to go under it vertically.

"Now let's work that vertical!" barked Skipper.

I watched as Dusty went under perfectly. I was rather sloppy when it came to working vertical turns as it was not one of my strong points. I have ended up in the river before when trying to work that vertical.

"Going up" I called laughing as I flew next to Dusty. Good thing that Dusty is not scared of heights anymore I thought. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted as a clanking and beeping sound came from Dusty. I looked over at him just in time to see his propeller stop spinning and Dusty flipped and started falling.

"Dusty!" I screamed flipping and diving after him with Skipper right behind me.

"Dusty" I called coming up beside him. "Pull up."

"I can't" gasped Dusty who was terrified just like me. Skipper dived after us.

"Dusty? Belinda? Are you okay?" Suddenly Dusty's propeller started spinning again.

"My…my engine!" Dusty gasped.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Steady there." Skipper called as Dusty regained balance next to me. I panted trying to get my heart rate back.

"Propwash Tower, this is Jolly Wrench Seven" Skipper radioed the tower. "We're a flight of three five miles north of the airport inbound for precautionary landing." I heard the tower give us the all clear as we landed. I was so badly shaken that I fell over, rolled a couple of times and lay there panting. I staggered to my feet and shakily joined the others. What happed up there I thought as we made our way over to Dottie's work shop.

Sparky checked me over to make sure that I didn't hurt myself too badly. I was still shaken so I didn't complain. I watched as Dottie worked on Dusty and checked his engine.

"I don't know what it was." Dusty said as Sparky went to help Dottie work on him. "We weren't doing anything different. Pylon turns, a vertical, like we do every day. I mean, I feel great… now, but-"

"I've got a love hate relationship with you, Dusty." I heard Dottie sigh. "Love that you're my best customer, hate what you're doing to yourself."

"Come on Dot." Dusty scoffed. "You saw me and Belinda at the Red Bulldozer race. We kicked Aston Martin out there!"

"You're not even listening to what I'm saying." I heard Dottie mutter. I looked up to see her testing some sort of substance.

"And hey, Speed City Airfest is just a few weeks away!" Dusty continued. "And Belinda, I think that if we manage to get a little more speed coming out of those, really work that radial-G, we can definitely improve our time. Yeah! I'm feeling good about our next race. What about you Belinda?" he finished.

"I still trying to get over a shock pulse an almost heart attack" I answered grinning. "Besides we only just got back from the last one two days ago."

"Maybe, but racing is fun!" Dusty said excitedly to me. I sighed and shook my head at Dusty. I laughed at Dusty's expression.

"I guess I can't deny that." I replied.

"Well, no damage to the casing or compressor blades." Dottie reported as she came around to face Dusty.

"See? I told you." Dusty said confidently. "Just a hiccup. Which explains why everything went wonky?"

"That doesn't make sense to me, sorry" I said confused. Suddenly Chug tore in honking his horn making me jump slightly.

"Dusty! Belinda!" Chug cried. "What happened? Are you guys okay?"

"It's okay." Dusty assured.

"I am okay now" I answered looking at the worried truck.

"Was it your fuel, Dusty?" Chug asked it worriedly. "I tested it this morning! I always take a little sip. Gets me going."

"I swear that is not good for you" I said shaking my head and flicking my tail.

"It's okay." Dusty repeated. "Belinda and I got quite scared up there-"

"Him more than me." I teased even though I was sure that I was more scared. Dusty smirked at me.

"But it's all good news. Dottie gave me the all-clear." He said.

"Dusty" Dottie suddenly spoke up. "Your reduction gearbox is failing." I gasped when I heard that.

Dusty paused. "My gear box?"

"Your chip detector had a cluster of steel shavings on it." Dottie explained. "Flakes from the gears. That's what caused the trouble."

"Ha, I knew there was something more to it than a hiccup" I said in triumph staring at Dottie till I raised my eyes to meet Dusty's eyes.

"As if." Dusty laughed.

I grinned "But in all seriousness, Dottie now has to get you fixed."

"Don't worry. A gearbox can be replaced." Dusty assured me. I just smiled and looked at Dottie.

"We'll just order a new one by the end of the week." Dusty looked at Dottie "Right?" But Dottie was looking at anything but Dusty. I looked at her and saw the sadness in her eyes.

"This can't be good" I thought.

"What?" asked Dusty who was not smiling anymore.

"Your gearbox…. It's out of production. Long since discontinued. I can't even remember the last time is saw one." Dottie answered sadly.

"Well that blows it" I growled from where I was standing next to Skipper.

"But Dottie….come on. Can't you just build Dust a new one?" Chug asked Dottie worried.

"No, it's too complex" Dottie answered. "It has to factory." I looked at Dusty and dropped my head.

Dusty could see this wasn't going in a good direction. "Well, I mean, there has-"

"From now on you have to back off the torque. Keep it under Eighty precent." answered Dottie sadly. My head snapped up.

"WHAT?" I yelped.

Dusty jolted. "What?! Eighty precent? Dottie you've got me cranked up to one-forty. I need that to race!"

"If Dusty holds back he's mincemeat." I chimed in just to get my point through.

"If you push yourself into the red, your gearbox will fail." Dottie said. Dusty kept shaking his nose auguring with Dottie.

"Dusty, listen!" yelled Dottie.

"But I have got a race coming up" backfired Dusty.

"YOU'LL CRASH!" shouted Dottie. Everything went silent. I lifted my head to look at Dottie.

"If you push yourself into the read you'll crash." Dottie repeated sadly. I thought about it for two seconds.

"What if I can help? My powers might help" I said hopefully.

"No" said Dottie turning to me. "You said that you powers could stabilize someone who is badly injured so that won't help and you won't put your life in danger." I frowned and dropped my head knowing that she was right.

"I'm gonna install a warning light on your panel" said Dottie.

"A warning light" repeated Dusty.

"If it comes on, you'll need to pull power. Slow down." Dottie instructed.

"You mean that I can't race anymore?" asked Dusty.

"I'm so sorry." said Dottie sadly.

It was the end. No more racing for us. It's over.


	3. Chapter 3 Fire

I watched as Dusty went to his hanger to mop around. I stomped a hoof in frustration and went off to the grain fields. It had been a lovely day till Dusty's gearbox had failed. I walk through the corn fields till I can to the dam that had been built to hold water that is used to water the tractors. I sighed as I sat down near the edge in the shade to think. I don't know how long I sat there but when I got up to go find Dusty the sun was sitting low in the wester sky.

"Must be about 5:30pm" I thought getting up to my feet. "I better go find Dusty and see if he is okay." I trotted back into town and walked into Dusty's hanger. Dusty was not in his hanger and it was getting dark.

"Maybe he is with Skipper" I said to myself walking off to Skipper's hanger at the end of the runway. I saw Skipper coming towards me with Dusty.

"Hi guys" I called trotting up to them.

"Afternoon Belinda" greeted Skipper. "Would you like to join us at Honkers?"

"Sure" I answered and followed them.

When we got to honkers Skipper ordered two cans of oil and some water for me as I couldn't drink oil but I didn't mind because the water was better in my opinion. As we were drinking, I was half listing to the song that was on, Skipper was trying to talk to Dusty.

"Dottie's an excellent mechanic." Skipper reasoned. "You know as well as I do that she wouldn't have said what shed said unless she was sure."

Dusty sighed. "I guess that you are right."

"Dusty?" I said gently "I had a feeling that something would happen but I couldn't pinpoint it. I am feeling down now that you can't race anymore." I took a drink of water and sat my head on the table sadly. Suddenly there was a racket and in charged Chug and Sparky almost ploughing down a waiter in their rush to get to us.

"Whoa" I said "Hold you horses and try not to hurt anyone."

"Sorry" they said. Then they went on to talk to Dusty.

"Dust, listen!" said an over excited Chug. "We just got of the radio with Ethan up in Grand Flaps."

"Old Grand Flaps Ethan" Sparky chimed in.

"He has the gearbox?" asked Dusty hopefully. I grinned in hope.

Chug and Sparky chuckled "No." My face fell in alarm

.

"But his buddy owns twenty-one service hangers!" Chug said. "And he is going to check his inventory, and he's gonna put the word out for you, Duster! It's a good start, right?"

"It's a very good start" I said grinning at them.

"Can you believe it" Sparky asked.

"These hope for you yet Dusty" I said looking at him and Skipper.

"Because if that gear box is out there, we're gonna find it for you, buddy!" Chug said determinedly.

"This is the best news I have heard all day guys" I said grinning at them.

"And hey!" I heard a voice call. We looked over to see Leadbottom coming over.

" _Oh no"_ I thought.

"If you don't, it's all right! Because the answer is yes!" he continued.

"Yes?" Dusty repeated confused.

"What?" Chug blinked.

"Come again?" I asked rising to my feet only to receive a 'Don't you dare' look from Skipper.

"Yes?" Skipper asked raising an eye frame giving a confused look.

"Huh?" Sparky asked totally confused.

"Yes of course you can have you old job back!" Leadbottom said cheerily. "Don't even have to bother asking. That's just the kind of guy I am."

I sighed. That was the problem with Propwash being a tiny town. Word can spread fast and soon the whole town knows about everything. I opened my mouth to argue when Skipper gave me a 'stay out of it' look. I closed my mouth and decided to let Skipper do the talking.

"Leadbottom, I'm sure that Dusty appreciates your offer but…" Skipper stated to say as Leadbottom cut him off.

As Leadbottom continued to talk I looked at poor Dusty. He looked miserable and I thought that I had to shut Leadbottom up.

"Leadbottom, please!" Skipper snapped.

I growled in the back of my throat like a wolf and Skipper gave me a firm look so I went quiet again. I was just itching to kick Leadbottom and Skipper had sawn what I was going to do so I had to back down.

"Once you acquire the taste for Vitaminamalch, you can't live without it" Leadbottom continued. "I'll get his sprayer back, cleaned up and bolted back on him."

"No way" I growled. I was desperate to kick him now. I would kick him so hard that he wouldn't know what hit him.

"I'll tell you what, let me by you a can of oil." Skipper offered to much of my suprisment.

"I' tell you what, Dusty is the best crop-duster I've ever known!" Leadbottom shot back.

"And I'm telling you that Dusty don't crop dust no more!" Chug counted, as he, Sparky and I came up to defend our friend.

"That's right!" Sparky cried.

"Yeh, no more" I growled.

"He's a racer!" Chug continued.

"A racer!" cried Sparky

"And he's gonna be back to racing in no time." Chug continued.

"In no time" Sparky chimed in. "Right Dusty?"

"Right, Dust?" said Chug.

Silence

"Dust?" said Chug.

We looked toward the table only to see that Dusty had quietly slipped out.

"Nice going guys" I said glaring at Leadbottom. "Now he is gone." Leadbottom went to say something. Before Skipper could say anything I spoke up.

"Not one more word from you Leadbottom" I growled. I turned around and started to walk off.

"Where are you going" asked Skipper.

"I am going to go cool down and read a book" I called over my shoulder and cantered off to Dusty's hanger.

I shared a corner of Dusty's hanger so that I had somewhere to sleep out of the weather. Next to my bed of grass and leaves I had three books. Two were on healing plants and one was a scrapbook with photos and newspaper cut outs of Dusty's wins and me with him. I smiled as I started to look through the scrapbook. I has half way through when I heard an approaching air plane.

"Dusty" I thought.

I looked outside just in time to see Dusty clip the Fil N' Fly stand as he came to a stop.

"Dusty" I called galloping up to him. "Are you alright?"

I heard a creaking grone and looked up to see sparks flying and the roof collapse. There was explosion and flames appeared. I let out a horse scream and reared in fright then bolted. I only went a couple of hundred meters when I realised that I had abandoned them. Even it was natural for me to be terrified of fire I tore back to try to help put it out. Mayday was there hosing down the fire trying to put it out when I galloped back. But then the old hose started falling apart. Mayday lost water and stared at the spreading fire.

"What do we do now?" asked Chug. Mayday looked up at the water tower.

"I'm gonna need some help" he said.

As quick as they could Dottie and Sparky undid the bolts that held the base of the tower. Then they tight straps and ropes to the tower and attached them to Mayday, Dusty, Chug, Skipper and me.

"Pull" commanded Mayday.

I launched forward and threw my weight against the rope. As we strained the tower started to give way.

'CRASH.'

The tower gave way and water went everywhere. A piece of metal from the tower hit me across the rump leaving a gash. I gave a cry of pain and leapt away from the burning remnants of the fire.

"Is everyone all right?" asked Chug.

"I am" they replied.

"I'm not" I answered. "Something sharp hit me on the rump and it is really sore." Dottie went round to have a look.

"You have a shallow gash on your rump" she stated. "Come to the shed and I will get you cleaned up."

"Ok" I said following her. After being patched up and having a clean rag fixed firmly in place Dottie let me go.

"And don't open p that wound" she called after me.

"I won't" I called over my shoulder. Later that night I watched as Dusty slept thinking about what would happen now. I was still thinking as I drifted off to sleep that night.


	4. Chapter 4: Solving problems

The next morning I got up and stretched.

"Morning Dusty" I said cheerfully in my usual morning tone.

"Morning Belinda" answered Dusty but he was not very cheery.

"Did you sleep well?" "Yes I did once I found a confinable position." I answered. "Did you sleep well"

"Yes" answered Dusty.

"Oh well I guess that it is time to go find some breakfast" I said. "Found some greed feed down near the dam yesterday afternoon. I'll see you in a bit Dusty."

"Belinda" called Dusty. "Don't forget to let Dottie check that wound."

"I won't" I said as I canted off to find the dam.

When I got there I snuffed around for the green grass to eat. As I ate I watch the birds sing in the trees and the tractors roam the fields. Suddenly I saw a familiar head and out shot Falco my Brown Falcon.

"Falco" I called. Falco screeched in glee and landed on my back, pulling my main playfully.

"All right, all right." I laughed. "Good to see you too."

"Squawk" Falco answered and boobed up and down.

"Ok, well do see Dusty then. I bet he missed you" I said trotting back to Propwash with Falco on my back. When I arrived there was a TMST truck there. I looked at him and went over to Dottie.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Well Mayday is in trouble for toppling a water tower" answered Dottie with a glare. "Oh and something about you getting hurt in the process."

"Is that the one who got hurt?" asked the TMST manager glaring at me.

"Yes but it is just a scratch" I protested glaring back. Falco jumped between my ears.

" _Beaky bird"_ he squawked but of course I was the only one who understood him.

"Falco, quiet" I whispered to him. Falco looked around and flew up on top of Skipper. I shook my head and continued listening.

"It's clear this airport has no plans for an emergency and equipment from last century." continued the TMST agent.

I growled and braced to pounce only for Dottie to tie a rope around my neck and tether me. I looked at her only to be glared at. I sighed and sat down to finish listing.

"So, unless Mr. Mayday gets refurnished and acquires a second fire fighter in accordance with CFR title 14, volume three, chapter one, section 139, sub-paragraph B, I am pulling this airports Certificate of Operation for noncompliance of rescue and firefighting regulations!" he finished.

Then he left Propwash Junction. Only then did Dottie let me go.

"You didn't need to tie me up you know" I said.

"Yes I did because I saw that you were going to have a go at him" answered Dottie firmly.

"Mind reader" I mutter.

"What was that?" asked Dottie.

"Nothing" I answered. "Come on Falco."

Falco jumped onto my back and I walked of grumbling about everything going wrong. I walked off to get a drink of water.

"You know Falco, the world seem to be against us now" I started to say to him.

" _You should have let me scratch him"_ Falco chittered to me.

"I couldn't let you do that otherwise things would get worse" I nickered.

Falco started having a drink when he suddenly had a bright idea.

" _Why don't you become a fire-fighter"_ asked Falco.

"That might be an idea" I answered. "But what about Dusty? I can't leave him while everything is going on."

I continued drinking water when I heard a commotion. I look up to see the town complaining to Dottie and Sparky.

"Let's go see what's happening." I said to Falco. Falco nodded and flew onto my neck.

"Propwash Junction just got shut down?" one cried.

"With no active runway, how can anybody land?" another yelled.

"They can't! That's the problem" yelled a small plane.

"But I already finished my corncob costume." Said Brodi's wife.

The word had obesely spread quickly and the whole town now new. They didn't seem to know the details though but they were still upset.

"Calm down, Calm down" ordered Skipper.

"Calm down? Calm down?" yelled Brodi. "Then Corn festival is what butters my corn."

"Yeh" yelled the rest of the town.

" _That's it"_ I thought.

"QUIET!" I shouted, spreading my wings and rearing in a threatening display. When I landed the whole town had gone dead quiet.

"Right" I continued. "Go on Skipper."

"Dottie show them" said Skipper.

Sparky pointed to a drawing if Mayday with a stick.

"This is Mayday now" started Dottie.

"I did the Drawings" said Chug to Dusty and me. I nodded and stared at the drawing.

"We add a 400 watt siren, a 2,000 GPM roof turret, a high-capacity water tank with a foam cell.." Dottie stated. Sparky showed a new drawing. "And we'll have an all new Mayday."

"Ah, he gets rocket boosters" asked Sparky.

"Fuelled by good old hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Remember that it is highly explosive, so he'll want to keep away from any open flame." Said Chug happily.

" _Fuel trucks"_ chattered Falco to me. I nodded and nearly sent him flying through the air. Dottie and Sparky blinked, stunned.

"But… he's a fuel truck." Sparky pointed out.

"Exactly." Chug nodded.

"So, for Mayday to keep his job and get Propwash reopened, we just need to find a…. seconde fire-fighter…" Dottie trailed off looking down.

"What?" Leadbottom snapped. "At this time of the year it's fire season."

That just sent everyone into an uproar. They just starting talking worriedly. I couldn't pick out everything but I was sure that it had something to do with how much it costs. I looked over to Dusty only to see that he was going after Mayday.

When I found Dusty he was smiling and talking happily to Mayday.

"Hey guys" I called walking up. "What's going on?"

"Oh, hi Belinda. Guess what?" asked Dusty.

"Are you going to make another fire?" I guessed.

"No, I'm going to become the second fire fighter." He said grinning.

"Good for you" I grinned back.

"Ow. Falco stop that" I said as he bit me.

"Dusty is going off to get certified" Mayday said to me.

"Brilliant." I answered. "Can I come to?"

"I suppose you can" answered Mayday.

"Now I will see you two in the morning. Good night."

"Night Mayday" we answered and went back to our hangar.

"I can't wait till tomorrow" I said from were I was sitting in my bed of leaves.

"Neither can I" agreed Dusty. "Come to think of it, why are you coming? You are terrified of fire."

"Yes I am but I am going to see how many times you mess up" I answered. "Besides, something is telling me to go, so I am coming."

"Okay" said Dusty yawning. "Goodnight"

"Night Dusty" I replied.

And so began the adventure of being a fire-fighter.


	5. Chapter 5: A bad impresion

The next day we had to find another place to take off. So Dusty, Sparky, Chug, Skipper, Dottie, Mayday and I went out to a section of highway outside of town. I had to admit, as I trotted beside the others, that I was a little scared as I didn't like fire very much. When we got there Sparky had to move some tractors from one field to another. As they crossed I listened to Chug count them.

"One, two, three, lil' Jon-Jon, and five." Chug counted "Okay, that's it! That's the morning rush. Highway's all clear, Duster!"

"You be safe, all right?" Skipper to us.

"When am I never safe?" I asked, spreading my wings next to Dusty, ready to go. "Don't answer that."

"Now, when you get to Piston Peak Air Attack, you're gonna ask for Blade Ranger." Mayday instructed us.

"Blade Ranger." Dusty repeated.

"You got it." Mayday nodded. "Yeah. He's their chief of fire and rescue. He's an old friend of mine. He can train and certify you two."

"Ri-to." I said, nodding to show that I understood.

"Consider it done, Mayday." Dusty agreed, starting up his propeller. I stood and waited for Dusty to get into the air.

"And Dusty, be careful." Skipper said.

"I will." Dusty nodded.

"We'll see you guys by the time of the Corn Fest." I assured as Dusty began taking off. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." I got a running start and joined Dusty in the air. I let out a good-bye whinny and flew next to Dusty.

"Good luck, Dusty! Good luck, Sky!" Mayday called.

"Take it easy out there!" Dottie chimed in.

"You can do it!" Skipper encouraged.

"We're proud of you guys!" Chug called.

Sparky cheered for them. "Good luck!"

I turned and whinnied again , then I settled into a relaxed flight next to Dusty. It was fun to be flying next to Dusty on a relaxed flight again. Steadily, we began to leave the grasslands and fields behind. The area that I knew so well was getting left behind and an adventure lay ahead. Soon we arrived at rocky, forest like areas that seemed familiar to me. I shook my head to clear thoughts of when I was shipped to America on a boat when I was in captivity.

"So, what do you think fire-fighting would be like Dusty?" I asked, looking over to him.

"Mayday said that it would be dangerous." Dusty replied.

"Brilliant, I like dangerous." I grinned.

"You are unbelievable, Belinda" Said Dusty giving me the 'don't go and do anything silly' look.

"You hear that Falco" I called to Falco who was flying next to us. "I'm unbelievable."

" _Yes"_ Falco squawked back. _"And I on Dusty's side"_

"You have always been a funny bird" I said shaking my head.

"Sing a song Belinda. It'll help pass the time" said Dusty, who thought that I could sing pretty well.

"All right, but you choose" I said to Dusty.

"How about 'still I fly'" suggested Dusty.

"Alright" I said and started to sing 'Still I Fly'.

It took us several hours to get to Piston Peak National Park. I had sung two songs, played I spy and guess what I am thinking of. I was still trying not to fall asleep, but Falco had gotten tired and was riding on my back. Finally we saw the mountains and dense forests of the park.

"Finally" I said when we saw the park. "Soon we can land. I am getting thirsty. How about you Falco?.

" _Yummy fish"_ mumbled Falco. I looked over to see that he was asleep.

"Falco wake up." I cried. Falco woke up all right. He fell off my back surprised. Dusty and I laughed as Falco gained his balance and squawked angrily at me.

As we flew we passed a train as we went into the park. By the writing on the train's side its name was 'Muir' and also what it belonged to, which was 'Piston Peak Railway.' We dipped our wings in greeting and the train smiling and blowed its whistle to greet back. As we flew further into the park we couldn't help but star in awe at the beautiful scenery. Tourists and campers streamed into the park, taking pictures and talking excitedly. As Dusty and I flew through, a geyser went off and shot water into the air. Falco and I shielded away so that we didn't get wet with hot water.

"So where do you think the fire-fighters base would be?" I asked.

"No idea." Dusty admitted. "Mayday said their base is on a mountain somewhere."

Falco looked around. "Well that's specific" he squawked then he spotted something in the hill and started chittering excitedly to us, motioning to it with his head.

"We see it said Dusty" as we flew in the direction that Falco was pointing.

As we neared it base we discovered a runway and several buildings resting on the cliff. Lowering his landing gear, he made a smooth landing onto the runway and began taxiing towards the buildings. I landed behind Dusty with Falco sitting on my shoulder. At first the place looked deserted until we neared the hangers. It turned out that there were several hangers, a garage, a tower for traffic control, and even a helipad or two. Mellow music played from the speakers on the tower, and a forklift was inside polishing the windows. A green Sikorsky/Erickson CH64 Skycrane, I remembered from reading a book about helicopters, sat on a platform next to what must've been his hanger, lifting half a dozen logs or so. What looked like a Native American dream catcher hung from the platform. Outside the hanger next to him, a bright yellow and red SuperScooper hummed to herself as she sunbathed.

"Argh! Stick shift!"

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard the noise as it had been pretty quiet. We glanced over to the garage, where a dark blue and gray forklift waved a wheel and groaned in pain, having apparently kicked some canisters. A very big airplane with the words "U.S. Air Force" printed on his side sat at his hanger, listening to a radio. Falco crouched down a bit, so than he wouldn't be noticed to much.

"Do you think that this is the right place?" I whispered to Dusty. Before he could reply as what I called a Bobcat leaped in fount of use.

"Ripping!"

"Duck!" I yelped and Dusty quickly obeyed as a vehicle flew over our heads. The vehicle landed on his treads and spun around, revealing to be a yellow and black skid street digger. I pranced a bit on my hooves before going I little rear.

"Drip!" a female voice shouted right before a small ATV, also colored yellow and black, jumped out from behind the dirt ramp the street digger came off. A vehicle with a saw blade came up on the other side of Drip, and a bulldozer and a digger vehicle with a rake tool rolled up to sit on top of the jump. I shielded slightly and stopped to look at them, sniffing the air in case there were any more. Sensing no more scents I turned my attention to them.

"What the heck is the matter with you?" the ATV snapped. "You nearly took off the guy's canopy!"

"Yeah, but Blackout said it was okay to go, dude." The street digger said.

"I did?" the saw bladed vehicle asked.

"That must be Blackout" I thought.

"He did?" the female car asked sceptically.

"Yeah, he was like, 'He's okay to go, dude.'" The digger said, using his claws to mimic a mouth talking.

"Uh, I'm sorry." Dusty piped up, catching everyone's attention. "I know you're busy, but we are looking for Piston Peak Air Attack."

"You are there!" the digger cheered.

"Copy that, jefe!" The saw vehicle cheered, the two of them tapping their tools together. I put my ears forward in interest.

"Serving beautiful V6 Valley since 1958." The small ATV said, looping around Dusty and Sky. "You two must be the SEAT and winged horse. We heard you were comin'."

"And we came." I said with a smirk and went back to looking at the others.

The car smirked back. "I'm Dynamite. This is Blackout, Pinecone, Avalanche…."

"HELLO!" the bulldozer shouted. I winced and Falco glared.

"…and Evel Ke-numbskull over there is Drip." Dynamite finished as Drip spun around and flipped himself to stand on his head.

"Did you guys see that?" Drip asked, smiling broadly.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Dusty Crophopper." Dusty introduced.

"And I'm Belinda and this is Falco." I said. Falco lifted his head proudly.

"Dusty Crophopper? Dusty Crophopper!"

Dynamite, Blackout, and Drip hurried out of the way as the SuperScooper from before suddenly barrelled forward, a huge smile on her face. I leaped back and was quickly surrounded by the three boys. They were all interested in having a look at me. I bent my head to sniff them and they laughed. All the time is was listening to Dusty and the other plane.

"The air racer?" She squealed, making Dusty flinch. "Shut the hanger door! And oh my gosh, your Belinda! Wow!"

I grinned. "Yup. But leave me out of this. '" I liked seeing Dusty embarrassed.

"That's so amazing!" the SuperScooper cried happily. "I mean, I'm your biggest fan! I have seen every single one of your races on RSN!" She gave Dusty a once-over. "You're smaller than I thought. But that's okay!"

"Um, thanks." Dusty said, a little freaked out by how freakishly huge the SuperScooper was compared to him. I bit her lip to try and keep my amused laughter at bay. I looked over to see the green helicopter from before had joined the group to check them out. His copper-coloured eyes stared directly at me and I dropped my gaze to look at Dusty.

"So what are a couple of world-famous racing superstars doing here?" the SuperScooper asked.

"Yeah, uh, we're here because we're between races right now." Dusty explained, trying to not look intimidated by the SuperScooper. "So we're helping out some friends….."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" the SuperScooper cooed. "I'm Dipper. That's what everyone calls me, so you can too."

"Okay, Mrs.…." Dusty started.

"'Miss.'" Dipper corrected.

"Miss."

"Miss, yeah."

"Dipper."

"Dipper."

"Yep."

"Yep. Rawr!"

Falco and I couldn't keep our laughter back any more. Falco fell of me in a fit of laughter and I whinnied in amusement. Dusty glanced at us and we immediately shut up.

"Great to meet you." Dusty said before turning his attention to the rest of the team. "We're looking for Blade Ranger."

"He's out scouting for spot fires." Dynamite said. "He should be back in a few."

"Thanks." Dusty said gratefully.

"The one the Lakota call Haokah beats his drum with the wind to make thunder." The Skycrane spoke, his deep voice surprising Sky a bit. "With thunder comes lightning, and with lightning comes fire."

Silence for a beat.

"He's defiantly Native American." I recognised by the ascent.

"Okay….." Dusty cleared his throat, getting more and more weirded out. "Yeah, very nice."

 _"Dusty, be nice!"_ whispered Falco jumping on him. Of course Dusty didn't understand him.

"Windlifter!" Dipper said hurriedly. "Stop scaring our guests! I don't hear any drums."

"Kilawu." Windlifter said and looked towards the tower. Everyone followed his gaze.

After a moment, an alarm blared out across the base and a woman's voice spoke over the speakers. "All aircraft, we've got a report of a wildfire."

Wait, how did he…? Falco and I stared at Windlifter in surprise. The Skycrane had a look in his eyes that said "I told you so." I shook my mane and looked over as the grey tug called out to the crew.

"Come on, boys!" the gray tug from the garage called. "Let's load up!" He looked to the forklift in the tower. "Patch! Drop the needle!" After a moment, rock music began blaring from the speakers.

"It's an actual fire?" Dusty asked as the team suddenly sprang into action.

"Oh yeah!" Dipper nodded. "It happens all the time. You guys only hear about the big ones!"

"Fire is due to an unattended campfire." Patch reported. "Location: 10 clicks northwest heading two-niner-seven. Slow rate of spread. Ten acres with a northerly wind on it."

Before Dusty's, Falco's and my eyes, the laid-back vehicles around them began darting around and preparing to go to work. The Smokejumpers hurried into their garage and loaded parachutes onto them, speeding out to the large plane that was starting up his engines on the runway. The gray tug sped over to Dipper and locked a hose onto a nozzle on her side, loading what I thought was water intoDipper. Windlifter started up his rotors, waiting for the tug to push over a large cargo container before hooking it on and taking off. The Smokejumpers loaded into the plane, and he and Dipper took off, following Windlifter out into the park.

"I gotta see this!" Dusty said excitedly.

"Dusty wait!" I called only to see the plane in the sky.

"And he's gorn" said Falco.

"Arr" I groaned and took off with Falco after Dusty and the fire-fighters. Falco and I flew a good safe distance behind the aircraft, not wanting to get in the way. Soon, a huge column of smoke could be seen in the valley, and I stopped beating my wings and began to wonder what classified a "big" fire.

"What do they call big?" asked Falco staring in disbelief.

"I don't know and don't want to know." I said as I caught up with Dusty. As we came closer, I noticed two other aircraft on the scene.

"Look Belinda, There is another one" said Dusty.

"What" I asked as both aircraft disappeared, only to reappear as they burst out of the smoke from the fire. One aircraft, a red and white AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter, could only be Chief Blade Ranger looped up and around, dropping a load of red retardant around the edge of the fire. His icy blue eyes, alert and focused, scanned every inch of the blaze. The seconed followed him but did nothing.

"Look there are two." I said.

"No Belinda. There is only one" said Dusty banking off.

I flapped there puzzled.

"I see two but Dusty only sees one." I thought "Unless. It's a ghost!"

The little helicopter saw me staring but paid no attention to me. I tuned my radio to listen to what happens.

Blade caught sight of his team. "All right, mud droppers! Watch your altitude! Too low, and you'll spread the embers. Dipper, set up for a drop and vee the head of the fire."

"Copy that! I'm away!" Dipper called, flying down and dropping her own load of retardant.

"Windlifter, you're clear to maneuver." Blade said.

"Windlifter copies." The Skycrane said, flying in and dropping retardant.

Blade flew over the green helicopter, making sure the entire fire had been circled with retardant. "All right, Cabbie! Let's get some wheels on the ground!"

Cabbie, the large plane, flew a short distance from the fire. "Jumpers, South Meadow looks clear. Should put you approximately 100 yards below the fire."

I watched closely to see what happens.

Dynamite rolled out as Cabbie lowered his hatch, and she looked down to the clear meadow below. "Looks good, Cabbie!"

"Let's ride the silk elevator, boys!" Drip called.

"I will never understand why you gravel crunchers would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane!" Cabbie jibed.

"We're not!" Dynamite called. "We're jumpin' out of you!" She and the Smokejumpers leaped out, diving down towards the ground. After a few seconds, they released their parachutes and smoothly glided down the rest of the way, detaching their chutes and landing a little hard in the meadow.

"Everyone's down. We're good." Dynamite reported.

"Cabbie copies." Cabbie said, looping around to get out of the way. "Be careful out there."

"Dynamite, use that creek bed as a natural barrier to create a fire break!" Blade ordered.

I lost sight of them so I went back to watching the others.

"Blade has not noticed the ghost so he mustn't be able to see it." I thought.

Blade, keeping an eye on everything, suddenly spotted a herd of deere desperately trying to escape the fire. One of the males was falling behind, in danger of being cut off from the herd and possibly killed. Swooping down, a door slid open on Blade's side to reveal a winch and hook. Flying down smoothly and swiftly, he let out the cable and caught the deere's antler rack in the hook. Blade pulled up, taking the animal with him just as a burning tree hit the spot the animal previously occupied. The helicopter dropped the deere with the rest of the herd, reeling in the hoist.

"Awesome!" Dusty cried over the radio.

It was obvious that that Dusty was not watching where he was going. He was about to coiled with the helicopters.

"Watch out!" I called into the radio.

Too late. Dusty was so focused on what was happening he didn't realize how close he was flying into Blade's path until he accidentally cut off the fire chief. Falco dived behind me so that he wouldn't see what happened next. I looked to see that Dusty hadn't clipped the helicopters.

Blade's surprised expression to the shock fell into a glare as he realized the extra flyers. "Get out of this airspace!" He ordered. He was talking mostly to Dusty as Falco and I were definitely out of the way.

"Oh, sorry!" Dusty called. Suddenly, he flew right through the retardant Dipper had been dropping, coating him in the red stuff.

Dusty coughed and gagged "Yuk" said as he flew toward Falco and me.

Dusty looked up and caught sight of Blade as he flew away. The red and white helicopter glared at him with a look that spelled certain doom. Oh great.

" _We're dead."_ Said Falco.

As soon as Dusty flew by us Falco and I scattered and took of back toward to base.

Dusty yelped as the grey tug hosed him down to get the retardant off. Unfortunately, while it did make him clean, it also left him sopping wet and a little cold. I was standing off to the side so that I wouldn't get blasted.

The tug nodded in satisfaction. "That ought to do it. Well, back to work. I gotta mix up a fresh batch of retardant." He rolled off into the garage to get to work. I watch him leave and looked at Dusty. I walked over, ndged him with my nose and turned my attention to Blade. Blade stood nearby, casting us a very uninterested and stern glare. I dropped my gaze in respect as he was the leader hear.

"And once you two dry out, you can wing it on back to the lodge with the rest of the tourists." Blade ordered, beginning to roll off.

"We're not tourists." I protested, swishing my tail. I looked at were the ghost chopper sat at the end of the runway.

"I would like to talk to him" I thought.

"Actually, we're the ones that May—" Dusty started, stumbling a bit over his words.

"They're the trainees." Windlifter said.

Blade paused, turning to stare at Sky and Dusty. "You're the ones Mayday radioed about? Oh for the love of—"

"Oh come on, Blade!" Dipper said excitedly. "They're not just any plane or Pegasus. It's Dusty Crophopper and Belinda with her falcon, Falco!" Dusty tried to warn Dipper against it, but she continued. "The champion air racers!"

"'Champion.'" Dusty scoffed modestly. "No big deal."

"Don't be shy, come on!" Dipper encouraged. "Tell him! They raced all the way around the world!"

Dusty chuckled nervously, not liking the deadpan, unblinking expression in Blade's eyes. "Well, I mean…."

I flicked my ears and looked at Dipper. "Dipper I don't think that…" I was cut off by Dusty.

"We did." Dusty finally nodded. "We did do that."

Blade rolled up a little closer to them, staring us. I gulped as Blade spoke.

"The world wasn't on fire though, was it?" he asked, his tone still stern.

I blinked. So did Dusty. "Was the whole world…"

"…..on fire?" I finished.

Looking at Falco I whispered "I didn't see the world burning like a ball of fire."

Dusty and I shared a look. "No." we answered.

Blade stared at us for a moment, making a "hmm" sound. I looked down expecting to be given a lecture. Finally, he turned to the tug in the garage. "Maru!"

"What?" Maru shouted indignantly.

"Rip off his landing gear!" Blade ordered, looking back at Dusty.

"Uh, wait, what?" Dusty gasped.

I froze in fear.

Maru chuckled deviously, dropping his welding mask and firing up his torch.

"We're dead" squawked Falco.


	6. Chapter 6: A ghost encounter

I stood off to one side, watching Maru work. He had left me there with Falco sitting on me. Once Dusty got over his moment of shock, he allowed Maru to remove the tip tanks from his wings and attach a set of pontoons onto the racer. I had snapped at Maru when I heard Dusty yelp when Maru had hit him lightly for moving. After that Dusty told me to go stand out of the way and also not to try to bit the mechanic again. Maru sang softly as he worked, putting the finishing touches on the modifications. I could have sworn that he was keeping an eye on him.

"Now I need the ½ wrench size" he muttered. Falco had heard what Maru had said and when Maru turned to get it he face to face with Falco and the wrench. Falco gave an astonished Maru the wrench and flew back onto my shoulder.

"I tought him that" I said when Maru looked at me.

"Well he is a good bird to have around." Maru said as he went back to work.

Falco looked at Dusty. _"You actually look pretty good."_

"He said _'You actually look pretty good'_ " I said translating so that Dusty knew what he said.

"You make it sound like I never looked good Falco." Dusty said with a smirk. Falco let out a series of happy chitters in responcegiggled in response. "Still, it does feel kind of weird. You know, without the tip tanks."

"Tip tanks?" Maru scoffed. "You couldn't exactly go flying into fire with fuel tanks on your wings. Ka-boom! Nope, you're gonna need these pontoons. They may be old—"

"Old?" Dusty blinked in surprise.

"—but they'll let you scoop water right off the lake." Maru finished.

" _Ka-boom"_ screeched Falco in alarm. We all glanced at him and he just looked at us.

"What" he asked but we took no notice.

"You're goofing on me." Dusty said hopefully. "You have any new ones?"

"New?" Maru laughed as he flipped his welding mask up. "We don't even know what that word means around here!" He tapped the pontoons, kicking up dust and making Dusty cough. "I rebuilt these babies myself. They're better than new. Give 'em a go."

"Huh?" Dusty tentatively began rocking on the pontoons, tilting and swaying. "All right. Let me just get this…..this….." He began muttering and yelping a bit as he found he had no control over his movements. Sky ducked and crouched down as Dusty's wing flew over her head, smacking Maru's welding visor back down.

"Pop the wheels, genius." Maru droned.

"The whee…..yeah, pop the wheels!" Dusty rolled his eyes, unable to believe he didn't think of that. He popped out the wheels, allowing him to bounce up a few inches and roll around. "Oh! That's it!"

"Yeah, you think?" Maru smirked as he put his mask and torch away.

"Yeah, I'm tall! Look at this." Dusty smiled. "What do you think, Belinda and Falco?"

"I think you'd make a clumsy boat." I teased, laughing stamping the ground with a hoof.

"Boat" echoed Falco.

Dusty went to say something back at Falco and me but he caught sight of something on the wall across from him. "Hey! You guys have a Wall of Fame, just like the Jolly Wrenches!"

"Wow" Falco and I said when we saw it.

"So what's the deal?" Dusty asked. "What do you have to do to get your picture up here?"

Maru paused, staring at the ground. "Crash."

Dusty's, Falco's and my faces fell. My ears flopped when I realised that they were dead.

"Oh" said Dusty in a soft voice.

"Yeah, dangerous work." Maru said, organizing the garage. "But that's the job of a fire-fighter. Risking their lives for people they don't even know. They fly in when others are flying out." He paused. "Takes a special kind of plane. And immense bravery on your part, hey Belinda."

"What?" I asked turning to look at Maru.

"Animals are terrified of fire and tend to panic." Maru explained. He held up an arm to silence me. "I didn't say that you are afraid of fire. It's just that they can panic and cause a disaster. I am not sure if Blade will train you but that is his decision."

I shrugged. "I can still listen to what he says. Besides it sounds interesting and a little bit fun."

"No, it's not." Said a voice behind us.

I jumped and we turned to see Blade sitting there listening. He still had a glare in his eyes.

"Okay. I change my mind. Not fun" I said looking at Blade. Falco nodded in agreement.

"Training start tomorrow morning. Belinda you and I need to talk." Blade said still glaring.

I gave a 'what did I do now' look and followed Blade.

"See you later Dusty." I called over my shoulder at a stunned Dusty.

"So what do you want to talk about?" I asked nervously moving one of my hooves around.

"Are you afraid of fire?" Blade asked in a stern voice ignoring my question.

"Yes-No-maby. Is that a trick question because it really tricky?" I asked nervously backing up a step when Blade glares at me. "You can still train me. Right?"

"You heard Maru." Blade said. "Animals tend to get spooked and can hurt themselves. You can watch and learn for now though."

"Okay" I answered.

"What about me" squawked Falco. I translated for Blade what Falco had said so the he understood.

Blade looks at Falco. "Stay out of trouble". He said to the bird and then rolled off.

Later on I was wandering around the base having a look at things. I looked up when I hear a noise and saw the ghost going into the woods. I looked over to see Windlifter watching me from where he was sitting. Something was telling me to catch up with the ghost. Suddenly I exploded into a gallop and took off after the ghost. I shot by five stunned Smokejumpers and Cabbie.

"What's got into her" I heard Drip yell.

Dusty was talking to Blade as I approached. Blade was giving Dusty by the looks of it as I approached. Dusty yelped as he saw me approaching him and Blade. Knowing that I couldn't swerve to miss him I kept going and then leaped into the air jumping over Dusty with ease. I hit the ground at a flat out gallop and kept going into the woods, despite Dusty calling my name behind me. It didn't take long for me to catch up with the ghost. I pulled up in front of him and we just stared at each other.

"Who are you?" I asked the ghost.

"You can see me." The ghost asked. I nodded and he just sat there with his mouth open.

"Yes, I saw you with Blade earlier but Dusty didn't believe me." I said still staring.

"Well I am Nick. Who are you?" Nick asked.

"I am Belinda." I answered, "And this is Falco."

"It's nice to meet you" said Nick grinning. "If you don't mind but how can you see me? I thought that only Windlifter could see me."

"It's something that comes from my mother's side of the family." I answered. "But you are the first ghost that I have ever seen."

I heard a rustle of bushes and Dusty can into view.

"There you are Belinda" he said looking at me. "I heard you talking but there is no one here. Oh and why did you take off like that?"

"YOU SCARED US" bellowed Avalanche, appearing out of the woods.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" I said just as Windlifter and the other four smokejumpers came out of the woods.

"Yhea. We don't" said Drip.

"Yes well stop talking to thin air and come back to base" said Drip.

I looked at Nick and sighed. "Alright."

"You have been acting wired now" said Blackout was we wandered back to the base.

I paused and looked up and smiled as Nick flew overheard. When I turned my attention back to the others they were staring at me. Well all except Windlifter.

"What?" I asked.

"There is nothing in the sky to smile at Belinda." said Dusty looking at me confused.

"What do you think of ghost's" I asked looking at them.

"They don't exist and that's that" answered Dynamite shaking her hood.

"CREEPY" shouted Avalanche.

"You are going crazy, Belinda." Said Dusty. "There is nothing here but us."

I looked behind Dusty at Nick who thought the whole thing was a big joke.

"It's not funny Blizzard" I said to Nick. Nick nodded and then went quiet. Blizzard was what I was going to call him around everyone.

"Now she's going off her rocker" grinned Drip.

"Okay you need to get to bed early because you are starting to see things." Said Dusty as we kept going. "And there is nothing behind us so stope looking behind us."

"Shows what you know Dusty" I said and then quickly changed my speed from a steady trot to a canter and left them behind.

When I reached the base I nearly ran slap bang into Blade. Blade glared at me and I just gave him a blank look bake before heading off to eat near the side of the runway. I had only eaten one mouthful when the others turned up.

"Good they have turned up" said Maru behind me. I looked at him and then back at Dusty.

"Do you lot want any Dinner?" called Maru.

"DINNER" came a chorus of voices and they went over to get some.

"You coming Belinda" asked Maru. "There's plenty of fruit to eat a well. You don't have to eat the tough grass."

"I'll ion you soon" I answered and went bake to grazing at the side of the runway.

"Suit yourself" said Maru as he rolled off to have some dinner.

I kept eating grass for a while till I noticed that I was getting some odd looks from the smokejumpers and Dipper. I finished chewing the mouthful of grass and started to walk over to them.

"Yay, Belinda's coming" yelled Drip.

"I saved you an apple" said Blackout holding up the apple.

"Thanks Blackout" I said before taking the apple to eat.

"I think that she likes us." Said Drip.

"Belinda likes everyone except those who are enemy's. You don't want to be her enemy because she can fight real good." Said Dusty grinning. I lifted my head and grinned back.

"Alright Dusty." Said Pinecone. "But she seems so gentled natured"

"Pose a threat and you'll be looking at the other side of the fence" I sad laughing. Pinecone just smiled and finished her dinner.

Suddenly my ears shot straight up and I looked around when I heard the snap of a twig. Getting up I moved away from the others and sniffed the air still listening fro sounds. Just then I heard a wolf howl and I relaxed straight away.

"Just a wolf" I said as another one answered it.

"Hearing wolves is not uncommon hear." Said Dipper. "So there is nothing to worry about."

"Oh wolves don't bother me. I just listening to what they are saying to each other." I said. "Sounds like they have brought the pups out by the way they are talking."

"You can understand wolves" said Drip.

"I can understand several different animals including deer, rabbit and fox" I answered.

"Wow" said Blackout.

As the wolves howled in the distance we talked about things that happen including what they call a big fire. That night as I settled down outside the hanger that we were using I couldn't help but wonder what tomorrow had installed for us.


	7. Chapter 7: Fire fighters- not

The next morning we were woken up at the crack of dawn by Avalanche bellowing into our hangar that we were using.

"MORNING" Avalanche bellowed.

"Arr" yelped Dusty.

I jumped up and yelped, "Who's the enemy. I'll tear them apart."

"Relax Belinda, it's just us." Said Dynamite.

I folded my wings by my sides and straightened up. I walked out the hangar and straight up to a grinning Avalanche, paying no attention to anyone else.

"Never sneak up on a trained fighter" I growled to him.

"POINT TAKEN" shouted Avalanche still grinning.

I cringed and shook my head. He obesely wasn't fazed and thought that I was joking. Looking up I noticed that everyone else, except Blade who was who knows were, was watching us behind Dynamite.

"Morning" I said to them.

They nodded morning back as I turned to find that Dusty was fast asleep again.

"Should we wake him again?" asked Drip hopefully.

"No. Let's let him sleep. He's not usually awake at the crack of dawn." I answered, looking at Drip.

"What about you. You going back to sleep again?" asked a very excited Blackout. They seemed to want me the go to sleep again so that they could wake me up again.

"No." I answered. "I can tell that you just want to wake us up again. I'm not stupid."

"Ooooh. No fair" complained three smokejumpers. You can guess who.

"You always up at the crack of dawn?" I asked.

"No" answered Dynamite. "They just wanted to wake you up early."

"I see" I replied as I saw Blade and Nick approaching us.

"Blade does not look pleased that we woke him up early this morning." Said Drip.

"RUN" shouted Avalanche.

Turning they took off to hide or something. I shook my head and watched as they vanished around a corner.

"What's going on?" demanded Blade glaring after the smokejumpers.

"Early morning wakeup call" I answered. "Never mind. I am usually up at the crack of dawn."

"Hmm" said Blade, thinking. Then he looked at me.

"We start training in an hour's time." He said and then rolled away.

I watched him leave and then take off. Turning around I came face to face with Nick. He was grinning at me.

"I see that you got the wake up surprise." Nick said.

"Yes we did" I answered, stretching to loosen my muscles. "At least there I pleanty of time for me to have some breakfast."

"Good" answered Kick. "You eat grass don't you?"

"Yes, why?" I asked, a little confused.

"Well I happen to know that there is a nice patch of grass in the forest behind Windlifter's hangar" he replies happily. "Come on, follow me."

I looked at sleeping Dusty and started to follow Nick. After a while Nick had lead me to a nice patch of grass.

"Thank Nick" I said as I tucked in. Nick watch me for a while.

"So, what can you Pegasus's do" he asked staring at me. I chew my mouthful of grass thoughtfully.

"Well, because you asked I will tell you about us" I answered.

"Well, in the world that I came from Pegasus's are related to horses. In the past most tow leaggers said that they do not exist in the world but we did. Living in secret forests around the world we had learned to avoid the two leaggers. That was until a heard was discovered. Our world was shattered. We were hunted for riding, our fur and as trophies. But the people who killed a Pegasus's were cursed until the day that they died. Anyway when each Pegasus's is born they have three or four special powers that they can use when they get older. We usually inherited a power from each of our parents and get two of our own powers later. Being able to see ghosts like you Nick came from my mother. They said that see was originally Native American but I can quite remember if it was true or not. Being able to turn into a wolf comes from my father. He was the heard leader at the time because he was the strongest of us all. My two other powers I don't know how to use properly. One is being able to stabilize someone that is badly injured. That one I have used twice so I know how it works. The other power is being able to bring back someone who has died. The only other Pegasus's that I knew of that had that power was my Grandmother who died when I was a yearling and my older brother Kipper. He was one of the younger stallions who help protect the heard." I said.

"Interesting" said Nick, "So what about leaders and that thought of thing?"

"Well in a heard we have a lead stallion. It was his job to protect the heard from other stallions. There was also a lead mare that would lead the rest of us away if it were necessary during an attack on something. The heard was mostly made up of mares most of the time. When the foals were born they were looked after by the watchful mothers. We always liked to roam around and play when we were little. My father always had a group of trained fighters to help protect us and look after the young if we strode too far. Kipper was one of the fighters. I loved him dearly and spent plenty of time playing with him. Once we were a year old we were called yearlings. I was taught how to use some of my powers to help those around me. I was also taught how to fight. When I was only three, my father was defeated in battle and the winner claimed us all. It was heard law for all heard then. Well it was just the way things were." I finished.

"That is a strange way of how things worked." said Nick.

"I never quite understood it myself." I said finishing my breakfast. "We had better get back. Blade would probably be back by now."

"Right" said Nick. Turning to me he grinned. "Race you back"

"You're on" I called and took off after him.

When we got back I found Dusty getting ready to take off with Blade.

"You are just in time" said Dusty as we took off.

"Yeah well I kind of forgot the time" I said and winked at Nick who was following us. Nick just grinned and turned to follow us.

As we flew over the forest Blade was telling us about fire fighting.

"Fighting wildfire means flying low. And that's why we have Augerin Canyon, our own little obstacle course." Blade instructed us as he, Dusty, Nick and I flew the canyon to begin training. "All you gotta do is stay below the rim and when you get to the bridge, fly under and pull out." Blade told Dusty.

I looked at the deep canyon with its raging water a gulped. I could still remember nearly drowning in a flooded river when I was a foal.

"Flying low. No problem." Dusty said in a cocky manor.

"Overconfidence. The kind of attitude that could get you killed." Blade growled, breaking off and flying up as Dusty dove down.

"Be careful Dusty" I called after him as he dived to begine.

Nick looked at me. "Dusty will be fine"

"I hope so" I answered as we flew beside Blade watching Dusty's progress.

"Quiet" Blade barked at me. Of course he couldn't see Nick bet he fell silent just the same.

Blade looked and Nick and I looked down to see that Dusty was nearing the bridge.

"Okay, now let's see you make it under that bridge." Instructed Blade as we saw Dusty speed up.

Dusty started to go faster but suddenly pull back again and bail out of the manoeuvre. I sighed relief as he flew back towards us.

"Why did you pull power? You gotta firewall it!" yelled Blade.

"The bridge. It's too close to the falls." Dusty said with a hint of fear in his tone.

"No excuses." Blade barked back into the radio. "If there had been a downdraft, you'd be dead."

I looked at Blade then bake down at the raging water. The was no way that I was going to do that.

"Alright Belinda. You turn." said Blade to me.

I just nodded dumbly and started weaving my way through the course just as Dusty did. As I was getting closer I started to remember the time that I had almost drowned. Hearing Blade's voice trying to get me to keep going and seeing what happened in the past made everything confusing and spooking me. Letting out a scream of pure terror I shot up into the sky and past Blade, Nick and Dusty straight back to base. I didn't stop even though I heard the others yelling my name over the radio.

When I made it back to base I made a rough landing. Landing on the ground stumbling, I fell and rolled over a couple of times. The rest of the base had seen me come back in a hurry because they were already making the way over. Panting I staggered to my feet just as Maru came over.

"You okay" he asked.

"I'm fine" I said just as Blade, Nick and Dusty approached.

Looking over Blade had just landed. He was clearly not happy considering the glare he had on. Bearing my teeth I put my ears back and started backing away.

"What was that all about back there" Blade demanded.

"Stay away" I growled to him as he came closer. Suddenly I reared high on my hind legs and bolted into the forest. I didn't look back at them as I kept running at a flat out gallop. When I knew that they wouldn't be able to find me I stopped near the lake. Panting I looked at my reflection in the water before taking a drink. Once I had finished I continued looking at my reflection. My ears perked up as I heard a helicopter land behind me.

"If that you Blade then leave me alone." I said still looking at my reflection.

"It's not Blade" said a deep voice behind me.

Spinning around I found Windlifter looking at me with a board look on his face.

"Oh. Sorry Windlifter. I thought that you were…" I started to say when Windlifter cut me off.

"I know who you thought I was" said Windlifter. "Blade is back at base getting ready for the next training lesson. You left him stunned when you took off like that. Everything okay?"

"No. I'm not alright." I admitted. "It's just that…" I didn't finish what I was going to say. How was I supposed to tell Windlifter that I panic near rough water.

"Care to talk about it?" Windlifter asked.

Looking up I could tell that he would understand me.

"Okay." I said. "Long ago before I came to this wold, when I was a foal, I almost drowned during a flash flood. It had been raining for days and the water was raising higher. My heard and I were heading for higher ground when the river banks broke. I was imminently swept away into the strong current. While being tossed around in the water, I was being dragged downstream, I was unable to swim to the bank. The next thing I knew was that Kipper, my older brother, had pulled me onto his back and was swimming towards the bank. We both only just managed to survive the almost fatful day. After that I refused to go near fast flowing water."

"So your scared of fast flowing water" said Windlifter looking at me.

"I think terrified would be a better word" I corrected.

"I think that we can work on that." said Windlifter. "Meet me this afternoon after training. For now I think you should go back and watch what happens next."

"Okay Windlifter" I answered before we took off back to base.

When we got back Windlifter rolled over to talk to Blade. I kept my distance so that I don't get into any more trouble. I looked up to see Dusty coming.

"You okay?" asked Dusty. "You looked like you saw the devil and a ghost."

Nick made a face at that remark.

"I'm fine" I answered dropping my head.

"You gave us quite a scare. Don't take off like that again please." said Dusty.

"Rito" I answered, my ears picking up the sound of approaching wheels. Looking up I saw that Blade and Dipper were approaching us.

"Maru wants you for a sec" said Blade.

"Okay" I said and trotted over to the garage. "You wanted we Maru."

"Yes. Come over hear." Maru instructed.

As I stood there, Maru strapped something to me.

"What's this for?" I asked curisly.

"It's not for you to fight fires with. I want you the fetch me some water from the lake" answered Maru.

"Okay" I said and went off to join Dusty, Blade, Dipper and of course Nick in the sky.

When we arrived at the lake I realised that we were going to do the next lesson here.

"The next lesson is how to scoop water off the lake" whispered Nick next to me.

"Thanks Blizzard" I said back.

"This is no time to talk to you imaginary friend Belinda" said Dusty, before Blade could say anything.

"If only you knew, Dusty" I said to him.

"Knew what?" asked Dusty, totally confused.

"That what you are calling an imaginary friend is actually real. He's right next to you." I answered with a grin.

"As Drip would put it 'She's as crazy as Windlifter'" said Dipper to Dusty.

"Alright. Enough chatter" said Blade. He told Dipper to start the demonstration.

As Dipper was demonstrating, Blade was giving instructions.

"Make a normal seaplane approach." Blade instructed. "Stay on the step while collecting water through the scoops. Climb out loaded, return to your holding orbit, and drop as directed. Copy that?"

"Copy that!" Dusty answered as he swooped down, lowering his scoops on the pontoons.

Nick and I watched in amusement as Dusty bounced across the surface of the lake.

"Okay, you've got twelve to fifteen seconds to scoop then fifty feet to climb out." Blade said, watching as Dusty bounced across the lake. "And watch out for the tree line!"

Dusty quickly pulled up, only to clip a tree.

CRACK.

"And he takes some of the tree with him" I said in amusement.

"Alright, your turn" Blade said turning to me.

"Copy that" I answered, diving down to collect water.

The only problem was that as I was collecting water I diped to one side slightly.

SPLASH.

I ended up underwater in the lake. With a few quick kicks I broke the surface of the water and came up spluttering. I looked up to see Blade hovering over me.

"You okay" he called down to me.

"I'm fine" I answered and started swimming to the edge of the lake.

Climbing out, I shook myself off. Looking over I found Nick laughing his head off near a tree. I turned to find my wings were completely soaked. No surprise there as I had just been in the lake.

"Can you get back into the air?" Blade called down to me.

"No" I answered. "My wings are soaked. I'll walk back."

"Meet back at base" said Blade and started flying back with the others.

"Come on" said Nick. "I'll show you the way back"

"Great" I answered.

As we walked back we chatted about what happened today so far.

When I got back the whole base had heard about what happened. Immediately I was surrounded by the smokejumpers.

"Hey. Did you enjoy your dip in the lake?" asked Drip.

"I would if the water was not as cold." I answered.

"But it's a hot day" said a confused Blackout. "I for one would have liked a cool off."

"Well deep water is quite cold." I reasoned, flicking one ear a bit when I heard Dusty approaching.

Dusty still had a bit of tree stuck on one of his pontoons. It looked as though Blade had told him to get Maru to pull the branch off him. The smokejumpers were grinning.

"What happened to you?" asked Drip.

"I clipped a tree." answered Dusty. He looked up when he heard Maru approaching.

"What happened?" he asked. Before Dusty could answer I spoke up.

"First he skipped across the lake like a skipping stone and then he didn't pull up fast enough. The tree got a nice prune if I do say so myself." I answered with a big grin plastered on my face.

"I see" said Maru. "You'll make a good tree pruner Dusty."

"No I won't" said Dusty as Maru started to pull the branch out.

He stopped when the heard crunching behind him. Turning around he saw me eating the leaves. Three smokejumpers had the mouths open in horror. I stopped and looked between them.

"Seriously. You're going to eat the tough leaves?" asked a horrified Drip.

"Sure. Why not. Do you want some?" I asked nosing some over to him.

"I think that I'm gonna be sick." Answered Drip and the three boys took off.

"More for me than" I shrugged.

"You're an odd one" said Maru as he finished pulling out sticks.

"Whatever" I said not looking up as I continued eating.

Later on Windlifter took me back to the falls.

"Just go through as far as you can" Windlifter instructed.

I nodded and swooped down. As I flew through the rocks Windlifter hovered overhead. But as I neared the bridge I started to see my past again. I pulled away and flew up into the air. Then Windlifter had me try again. Several tries later I had manager to make it part way under the bridge before turning tail and fleeing back into the air. That was when Windlifter had said that that was enough for today.

When we got back to base I was worn out. After we landed I managed to drag myself over to the others. Everyone was there, including Nick, except Blade. Dusty looked tired as well.

"Hi guys" I greeted as I approached.

"Hi Belinda" several answered.

"You look tired" said Drip

"Yup. I'm going to sleep like a log tonight." I answered.

Blackout grinned. "So are you going straight to bed?"

"Yes and if anyone plays sneak attacks I will show no mercy." I answer as I turned to go find a place to sleep. "Goodnight."

"Night" came an answer.

As I walked across the base I passed Blade.

"Night Blade" I said as I passed.

"Night" he said in his usual tone.

That night I slept like a log outside the hangar that we were using. The next morning was going to be hard.

 **A/N: Sorry that this took so long. Had some assignments to do. I hope that you like it. Leave a review to say what you think. Thank you.**


	8. Chapter 8: day 2

The next morning I was woken up when I was pounced on with a tarp.

"We got it" bellowed Avalanche.

"Get off me" I shouted as I clawed the tarp.

Wait, clawed. Looking down I found out that I had turned into a wolf in my sleep. Oh great. Soon the tarp was pulled off of my head but the rest of me was wrapped in the tarp.

"Where's Belinda?" demanded Drip.

"I am Belinda, you numbskull" I growled in announce.

"No you're not. Belinda was white and autumn brown and as big as Dusty." answered Drip proudly. The others were staring at me confused. I could see Blade there glaring at the scene.

"Someone call off this smokejumper." I called just as Dusty came out of the hangar to see what all of the fuss was about.

"Morning. What's all the fuss about?" he asked.

"Dusty help" I said looking at him.

"Oh morning Belinda." Said Dusty. "What are you doing looking like a wolf for? And why are you wrapped up in a tarp?"

"Ask him" I answered motioning to Drip.

Dusty looked over at Drip and the others.

"Well?" he asked.

"It's not Belinda." said Drip.

"Belinda has wings. This wolf doesn't." added in Blackout.

While they were arguing Drip had rolled of the tarp. I imminently took an advantage of that and freed myself. Then I jumped up onto Dusty's right wing.

"Arrr, it's loose" yelled Avalanche.

"Yes. Drip kindly let me go" I said with a big toothy grin. Then I turned my attention to Blade. "So what are we going to do today Blade?"

Blade looked at us for a sec. "Training in one hour at the main hangar." He answered as he rolled off.

"So where is Belinda?" asked Drip who was trying to figure out how to catch me again.

"Here" I said as there was a flash and I took my normal form.

Several jaws had dropped and they were staring at me.

"Magic" yelled Blackout as he stared at me.

"Belinda run" said Dynamite.

"Why?" I asked looking at her.

"GET HER!" yelled three excited smokejumpers as they charged me.

I turned tail and bolted off with them after me. What a way to wake up in the morning.

Later on that morning we met up at the main hanger. Nick was sitting there next to Blade with a grin on his face. This lesson involved a lecture from Blade about the rules of firefighting and different techniques for dropping water and retardant. It sounded quite complicated to me but I was trying hard to understand. Maru joined us with a chalkboard and pointer just like one you would use in a classroom.

"Indirect attack, parallel attack, direct attack."

"Know what your fire is doing at all times."

"Wind speed and direction."

"Temperature and relative humidity."

It was like there was no end to the lecture. Thankfully Maru was there pointing at all to diagrams with his pointer stick. Falco was highly amused. He tried to steal the stick but I had grabbed his tail in my teeth.

"Finally, all aircraft must be on the ground thirty minutes after sunset." Blade finished. "Flying low at night is the fastest way to get your picture on the Wall."

That was when I noticed that something was wrong with Blade. I had to ask the others later. After the lecture Blade was going to set up some targets for Dusty to put out.

After the lecture Blade had a line of flaming barrels set up on the runway. I stood of to the side with the others watching Dusty try to put out the barrels. Dusty had just clearly found himself rather bad at dropping water. I was hoping to be able to go do something fun to do. Falco had found it rather amusing.

Round one: "Too early!" called Blade as the water hit the runway and not the barrels.

Round two: "Too high!" called Blade as the water dispersed like rain.

Round three: "Too low." Said Blade as Dusty swooped in and knocked over the barrels.

I shook my head as Dusty pulled up. Then I noticed that something in the barrel was still burning were it fell onto the runway.

"Those crops of yours, they die a lot?" Blade asked as he turned to see me snort and start jumping on the flames to stamp them out. Once they were out I shorted at the smouldering embers. Then I shook my mane and moved back over to stand by Nick who was grinning.

"Not bad" said Nick. "I wasn't expecting you to do what you just did."

"Thanks" I answered earning myself a weird look from Dipper.

Looked over at Blade who was giving me a firm look. I just gave him a smug look just to get on his nerves.

"You don't jump up and down on flames. A very fast way to burn yourself." Said Blade sternly.

"She properly did burn herself" said Maru as he came over.

"No I didn't" I said as Maru had a look.

"Well I be" he said looking up at me. "Okay what's your secret?"

"Hard hooves and being a fighter means that you have to be quick on your feet." I answered with a grin.

Blade was busy talking to Dynamite at the time so I had plenty of time to explain. Maru was very interested about what I told him. But he still thought that I would spook during a forest fire.

"Hey Belinda" called Dynamite.

"Yes" I answered looking up.

"You're with us for a while." She said as they started to drive off.

"Okeydokey" I said and started to follow. I looked up at Dusty and tuned in to the radio. "See ya later Dusty."

"See ya" answered Dusty.

After a while we found ourselves in a part of the forest with plenty of logs. It looked like a giant optical course.

"So what are going to do?" I asked looking at Dynamite expectantly.

"Shifting logs" she answered.

"That's going to be fun" I said ready to start. Nick had tagged along to see what I could do. To them they didn't know if I would be able to do it.

"Okay" said Dynamite. "What we do is help build a line and clear debris so that the fire can't spread as quickly. Also known as a fire brake. Have you ever seen one?"

"Yes" I answered "In the world that I came from I saw them all the time. In Australia the two leggers used to build fire brakes during bush fires all the time. Animals sometimes used them to escape."

"Good" said Dynamite. "Now building fire breaks requires quick and hard work. You have to be able to move fast and be strong."

"Right" I answered.

"Okay. Show us what you can do" said Dynamite.

"Use magic" said Drip hopefully.

I took one look and narrowed my eyes in determination. I galloped up to one, spun round, kicked it away and moved onto another one. Logs were moving pretty fast in my opinion. As I came up to one I realised that it could be rolled with little difficulty. I charge it, rose on my hind legs a bit and smashed into it with my front legs. I watched as the log rolled before turning to Dynamite. She seemed impressed at what I could do.

"Not bad" said Dynamite. "You moved those logs as if they were nothing but sticks. Well done. You'll make a good smoke jumper."

"Cabbie would be impressed when we tell him" said Pinecone.

"Okay" I said as I stood there, with my ears forward, listening to what they had to say.

"How could you move so fast?" asked Drip in amassment.

"Well, I was being a trained fighter when I was with my herd. High spirited ones would be chosen to help protect the herd. And after I was captured by two leggers my hatred toward them just made me stronger." I explained.

"Well you've had a hard past." said Dynamite.

"Yeah but I keep all that lock away at the back of my mind. I don't remember much of what happened now." I said.

"Right. Well let's get back to base" said Dynamite.

"Race you" yelled Drip as he took off as fast as he could.

"You're on" I called to him and bolted after him, sailing over the ground as easy as pie.

When we got back Dusty was getting ready to go off somewhere with Blade. I looked at them unsure whether to follow them or not.

"Come on Belinda" said Nick excitedly as he went to join them.

"I don't know if I can come or not." I said as I looked at him.

"I do see why you can't come with them." said Nick looking at me with a goofy grin.

"I'll go if Blade lets me." I answered. "I went out there earlier and almost made it under the bridge. I hope that he lets me come."

"That would be good if you could come" said Nick.

"Come on Belinda" called Dusty. "Stop talking to the air. We're going out to the canyon again."

"Alright coming." I called as I trotted over and took off with them.

Soon we were flying over the canyon. Blade sent Dusty down and we watched as he flew through the canyon. Blade was instructing him from the air over the radio.

"Approach looks good." Blade said over the radio. "Now, increase your airspeed. Redline it."

Dusty started to speed up and I watched, hoping that he would clear the bridge.

"Go to max torque." Blade ordered.

Dusty was going to max torque when his alarm went off. He started to slow down.

"Don't back off." Blade warned. "Don't back off!"

That was when Dusty pulled up and out of the canyon. Nick and I watched as he pulled up and started to level off.

"Ah, why did you bail out again?" Blade growled. "If you don't push it, you're not gonna make it. And you won't be certified!"

We heard Dusty groan over the radio. He was starting to get discouraged. I looked at Blade to see if he would put me through.

"You go through next." Blade said to me.

I looked at him and swooped down to go through. I concentrated so that I didn't spook and bolt. I was going to go under the bridge and nothing was going to hold me back. I weaver through the rocks and headed for the bridge. Then I added more speed and shot under the bridge and out the other side. Then I quickly pulled up. I stopped in the air and looked around. I had done it. I had gone under the bridge.

"Well done Belinda" cried Nick as he appeared beside me.

"Thanks Nick" I said as we approached Blade and Dusty.

"Well done Belinda" said Dusty.

"Thanks Dusty" I said to him.

"At least you made it under the bridge" said Blade before turning to leave and head for base.

"Don't worry Dusty. You'll do it one day" I said to cheer him up.

"Thanks Belinda" said Dusty as he smiled at me. I smiled back at him.

"Up for a race back?" I asked. "We'll keep it under eight precent."

"Okay" said Dusty and took off with me right behind.

I laughed as we passed Blade you looked stunned for a sec when we race by but he soon changed it to a glare. I just laughed and kept going. It was good to be chasing Dusty's tail again.

The base was quite surprised to see us come racing back. When we landed I playfully leapt at Dusty who bet me back. Several of the others came you to find out what happened.

"What's going on?" asked Dipper.

"Not much but we left Blade behind" I answered grinning.

"You left him behind?" asked Drip.

"Yes" said Dusty as he rolled off to hide from Dipper or something.

"So who made it under the bridge?" asked Blackout.

"I did but Dusty didn't" I said.

"Poor Dusty" said Dipper and went off to find him.

Just then I heard rotor blades and looked up to see Blade coming in to land.

"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya" yelled Avalanche as they bolted off.

"Bye" I called after them and just watched as Blade rolled over. I knew that I was going to get in trouble so I just waited.

"What with the race back" Blade asked sternly.

"Fun" I answered. "Haven't you heard of it?"

Blade just gave me a harder glare that I match with a board look. The others were watching the staring match to see if I will give up. I didn't even move when Falco landed onto my back.

"Hmm" said Blade and rolled off.

I watch as he left and turned my attention to Maru. "Need any help?" I asked.

"Well scince you asked would you go fetch Drip for me?" asked Maru.

"Yes" I said and ran of to find him.

I soon came back with him and Maru gave him a job to do. I stood there for a while befor speaking to Maru.

"Have you noticed something about Blade?" I asked him.

"Like what?" asked Maru back.

"Well even though he is stern he seems sad" I said.

Maru almost dropped the toll box that he was carrying.

"No Blade is just Blade" said Maru quietly. "Mabey you shod talk to him sometime."

"Alright I will" I answered determinedly.

Little did I know that Blade had heard the whole conversation.


	9. Chapter 9: The approtch

The Approach.

After the talk with Maru I walked out to go find something to do. Falco didn't eaven bother jumping on my shoulder as I left. As I walked out into the bright sunshine I could see Dusty talking to Dipper. Well it seemed that Dipper was doing most of the talking. As I was walking along watching them, more than were I was going, I walked straight into Blade.

"Ah , sorry Blade" I said and gave him a smile before continuing on my way.

Blade said nothing as I walked of so I supposed that he wasn't interested in yelling at me. I could feel his eyes on me as I kept walking. Suddenly Drip appeared right in front of me. I let out a yelp and reared on my hind legs making Drip yelp in return. Once I had settled down I gave him a glare.

"Don't jump out in front of me." I said to him sternly. "I don't like being surprised like that."

"I didn't sneak up on you. I wasn't trying to anyway" he said to me.

"Whatever" I said as the others came up.

"We have been looking for you. Wanna play ball?" asked Blackout hopefully.

"Alright, how do I play?" I asked getting excited.

"Just pass the ball to someone" said Drip as he tossed it to Pinecone who passed it to me.

I managed to toss it back by using my nose. Soon a friendly game of 'pass the ball' was in full swing. I even turned into a wolf to play fetch with them. Blackout, Drip and Avalanche were still playing even when Dynamite and Pinecone went over to join the others. Just then Drip managed to toss the stick and it landed on top of Blade.

"Oh man" groaned Drip.

"Now we have to find another stick" said Blackout.

"No you don't" I said.

"WE DON'T?" hollowed Avalanche looking at me with confusion.

"I'll fetch the stick" I said and started to bound up to Blade.

"No don't" cried Drip.

I just ignored him and kept heading for Blade. I stopped in front of him and, balancing on my back paws, looked up at were the stick was lodged in his radar blades. Then I started to back up.

"Belinda what are you doing?" asked Dusty nervously.

"Nothing, just this." I answered as I latched forward and leapt up on top of Blade, looping my front legs over one of his rotor blades and grabbed the stick in my jaws.

"She got it" yelled Drip, grinning.

"YAY" bellowed Avalanche.

"Piece of cake" I said, dropping the stick onto the ground.

"Now we can continue to play" said Drip as he grabbed the stick and moved back to the others.

"Whoa" I yelped as Blade spun his rotors around so that I was directly in front of him. "Hi" I said cheerfully.

"Get off" said Blade.

"Ritio" I answered and leapt onto the ground.

The moment my paws touched the ground I bolted up to Drip, who in turn, threw the stick into the forest. I bolted after the stick and soon brought it back and dropped it in front of Drip. As the afternoon wore on the game of fetch soon stopped once I lopped gown exhausted in the shade of a hanger.

"Looks like Belinda is too tired to keep playing." said Drip once he had he saw me lying in the shade.

"Well you weren't doing all of the running." I pointed out, lifting my head off of my paws.

"Okay, then well leave you alone for a while." said Blackout as he rolled off after the others.

"Whatever" I mumble tiredly and dropped my head back on my paws.

Soon I was dozing and watching the rest of the air attack team through half lidded eyes. Drip rolled by once and had said that I was asleep. I couldn't help chuckling at that because I was really awake and he thought that I was asleep. When it was what I would have said about three-thirty pm, give or take, I saw Blade tack of into the sky. Taking on my Pegues form I took off and followed a safe distance behind him. Nick was tagging along as well but he stayed quiet to find out when Blade would notice me. At first Blade took no notice of me until we were a good distance from the base.

"So you are still following me" Blade suddenly said, which made me almost fall out of the sky.

"Yes" came my reply as I flew up so that I was next to him.

"Why are you following me anyway?" asked Blade in a stern voice.

"Well I had nothing to do and I would like to see more of the park, without getting lost" I answered with a grin. Nick just snicked but other than that he stayed quiet.

"Hmm" Blade said as he kept scanning for spot fires. We flew in silence for a while till we spotter raising smoke in the distance.

"Is that a wild fire?" I asked Blade as we flew closer.

"No. It's just a camp fire." Blade answered in a stern tone.

"Okay" I answered and continued looking for spot fires. Luckily there were no spot fires so we headed back.

"There you are" said Dusty once Blade and I have landed. "Were have you been?"

"Tagging alone and exploring" I answered with a grin.

"Okay" Dusty said slowly. "Bit unusual for you to go exploring in the air."

"It is?" I asked.

"Well normally you are on the ground when you are exploring" answered Dusty with a smile.

"Yeah, but a birds eye of view is quite interesting out here" I said with a nod of my head.

"Well I hope that you have had a good time" Dusty said "I think we are doing taret practise tomorrow and-"

"Dustmuffin" came a call from across the runway.

"Oh shoot" said Dusty and he taxied off with Dipper after him.

"I bet that he won't get away" said Nick from where he was sitting next to me.

"I could probably help him but this is far too amusing" I said as I turned to head for my water bucket that Maru had lent me so that I could easily get a drink. "I'll save him later."

"Well don't help him because this is more interesting then what normally happens around hear" said Nick as he followed me.

"I guess that he can handle himself" I said before dropping my head into the bucket to get a drink. I drained the Bucket very quickly as it was half full and the water was a bit warm. I accidently nocked the bucket over when I lifted my head out.

"You must have been thirsty to drain the bucket" laughed Nick in amusement. "And now you are trying to pick it up."

"Yes" was my answer as I nosed the bucket around on the ground. Maru had come out of his workshop and was watching in amusement, and so was most of the team from where they were, as I tried to pick up the bucket. Soon I had managed to grab the handle between my teeth and pick up the bucket. Moving forward a bit I set the bucket down near the tap and push it under. Then I pushed against the tap handle hard enough to turn it on. As soon as the buck was full I managed to turn the tap off and finish having a drink of cooler water.

"You are quite claver for an animal" I heard Maru say before going back into his shed.

"Thanks" I called to him before walking off with Nick following me.

"So Nick, can I ask you something?" I asked when we were alone at the end of the runway whatching the sun set.

"Sure, I am like an open book" Nick answered jokingly.

"Well you know Blade-" I said looking at Nick as I spoke.

"Yes" Nick answered.

"Well to me he seems sad, lonely, as if the world turned its back on him" I said as I watch Blade as he rolled out of Maru's hanger. Nick tensed for a sec before letting out a sigh.

"He wasn't always like this" Nick sad with a hint of sadness. "He used to live a more happy life, without a care in the world."

"Did something happen?" I asked a little concerned.

"He lost someone that he considered a brother and friend" answered Nick sadly.

"Wait, how did you know?" I asked, trying to put two and two together.

"Because I was his friend" said Nick turning to me with sadness in his eyes. Suddenly the pieces fitted together.

"So that's why you seem to hang around near him" I said, "It's because you were like family." It all now mad sense. Blade was trying to run from his dark past because he was haunted with memories of losing Nick. Nick nodded before turning back to watch the sun set.

"I lost someone when I was younger as well" I said after a while of sitting there in science.

"You did?" asked Nick as he turned back to me.

"Yes" I answered quietly. "I lost my father, mother and brother. My family is gone. My sister and her twin brother were stolen by another herd."

"That must have been hard to take" said Nick with a hint of sympathy in his voice.

"It was." I answered. "MY father died trying to protect the heard. I was close to my mother who was killed while trying to protect me from the new leader. My older brother Kipper just vanished without a trace and my younger sister 'Raven' and her twin brother 'Rodger' were both stolen away by another heard. I never saw them again."

"That's sad" said Nick as he looked at me.

"Yes" I answered, "And that very day I swore to get revenge on the ones that took my family from me. It was just that I was in grief for losing them and the one that had killed my mother was going to be the first one on the list. But I never got the chance. Once I had ended up in this world I had no way of going back and saw they need for me here. That's how I learned to turn my back on the past and learned to relive a happy, carefree life."

"So that's why you are both strong and carefree" said Nick in understanding.

"Yes" I answered before hearing Dusty calling me.

"Must be dinner time for them" said Nick with a grin.

"Yes, race you" I said as I took off with nick after me.

" _Belinda" came a faint but soft voice._

" _Hmm" I said as I looked around. I was no longer at Piston Peak air attack base. Instead I was in some dark woods with the spirit of a white Pegasus in front of me._

" _Who are you?" I asked._

" _Follow me" said the voice again and the spirit turned and moved away. I followed and soon the scene changed and we were in a grassy meadow with the full moon in the air._

" _Who are you and what do you want?" I asked because this was just getting weird._

" _Over time you wouldn't remember me because you have forgotten who are" answered the spirit._

" _But I never knew-" I started to say be for the spirit cut me off._

" _Kawai" it said in a gentle voice. Then it dawned on me._

" _Mother" I gasped in realisation. "I couldn't have forgotten you."_

" _In forgetting who you are you have forgotten me" she answered._

" _No I can't have" I said shaking my head._

" _It doesn't matter now" said the spirit. "You have to bring out the Blade the Nick once knew and reunit them."_

" _But how?" I asked looking at her._

" _Time will tell" said the spirit before vanishing._

"Wake up" came a shout and a bucket of water was emptied over my head.

"Arrrr, what" I gasped I shock from the cold water. Looking up I found Maru in front of me and the sun was only just starting to come up.

"You were sleep moaning and I couldn't wake you, so I emptied a bucket of water over you" Maru said with an odd look in his eyes. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think so" I answered before getting up off the ground. "How did I get out here?"

"You were sleepwalking and then laid down" answered Maru as he put the bucket away.

"Oh" was all that I could say as Nick appeared beside me.

"Moring sleepy head" laughed Nick as he nudged me playfully. I grinned and nuzzled him back.

"Morning to you too" I said before looking up to were Blade's hander was. Blade was up and he was watching me from where he sat. I gave myself a good stretch before shaking myself off. Then I started to head towards Blade.

"Morning chief" I said as I approached.

"Morning" Blade answered with a slightly softer tone. "And it's just Blade."

"Okay" I answered as I moved to stand beside him, watching as the sun rose. "It's a lovely morning."

Blade just grunted but said nothing. Nick gave me a 'go on look' before vanishing. It seemed as though he was a bit nerves to stick around.

"You okay?" I finely asked Blade.

"I am fine" Blade confirmed sternly. "Why?"

"You just seemed a bit distant" I answered looking at him.

"How would you know" asked Blade as he turned to look at me.

"Us animals are gifted to know when something is wrong with someone" I answered "Also I remembered seeing on of the members go distant when her foal died."

"You're smarter than I thought" said Blade with a small smirk.

"Not at everything though" I said with a laugh. "You know more about firefighting that I do."

"You're right about that" answered Blade before turning back to the rising sun. "But I don't want to talk about my past."

"That's okay about not wanting to" I answered. "But if you ever need someone to talk to I'll be there for you."

"You can be very persistent" said Blade and I just gave him a look. "Why don't you come with me on spot fir patrol again?"

"Yes please" I said excitedly. "Can Falco come?"

"Sure" said Blade. I let out a whistle and a falcon flew over to me. Soon we were flying over the park scouting for spot fires. Even though Blade was still stern it was a start to befriending him.

 **AN: Sorry to all of my readers about taking a while to get this done. I had three assignments for school to do. Enjoy. Chapter 10 is in progress.**


	10. Chapter 10: The annoying one

It had been a week or so and we were working as hard as always. Flights through the canyon, target practise and so on. The good thing was that when we weren't training or were having a ten minute break, I was talking to Nick or one of the others on the base. Although when I was talking to the ghost everyone thought that I was crazy talking to my-self and Blade certainly never looked impressed. He never seemed to have a sense of humour but I got along with him. At night Dusty and I would sleep like logs and not even a wild animal could awaken us.

One day, after Dusty had failed to go under the bridge again, we were all heading back to base. Nick was constantly following use but only I could see him, not including Windlifter. Suddenly Dusty began speeding up when he spotted a trail of smoke in the near distance. You can guess what was going to happen next.

"Dusty, wait! That's not—" I started to call after him.

Whoosh.

Dusty dropped some of his retardant right onto fire…and the campers sitting in front of it. They weren't happy about that.

"Too late" Nick said with a smirk and I groaned as we caught up to Dusty.

"Good job." Blade said to Dusty. "You just saved those folks from a nice vacation."

Dusty looked a bit downcast at that and I groaned again, while Nick thought that the whole thing was a big joke. He seemed to find the humour in everything.

"Propwash Junction to Dusty and Belinda. Come in, Dusty and Belinda! This is Propwash Junction!" Skipper's voice said over the radio in their hanger. I scrambled up from where I was sunning myself and bounced into the hangar.

Dusty hurriedly answered. "Hey, Skipper!"

"Howdy partners" I said in excitement to them.

"Hey! How's it going?" Skipper asked.

Dusty sighed a bit. "This is tougher than I thought, but it is so good to hear from you."

"It is certainly tiering" I agreed.

"Well, we wanted to radio—" Skipper started.

"Hey, Skip! Let me tell 'em!" Chug called excitedly in the background

"Oh, all right, Chug." Skipper said.

"Tell us what?" Dusty asked, hoping it wasn't more bad news about the airport. My ears went forward in excitement.

"Okay!" Even over the radio, Chug sounded like he was ready to burst from excitement. "That….we….." He couldn't stop chuckling hysterically. "Oh, I can't! You tell 'em, Sparky!"

"So, okay, there's this fella out in California." Sparky explained.

"California!" Chug repeated.

"The Skipper and I know him from back when we were stationed in Coronado."

"Near San Diego!"

"We all used to go down to Baja."

"Near Coronado!"

Sparky laughed. "Oh boy, there was this one time we went to this bar, and Skipper put a hula skirt and coconuts on his—"

"Sparky!" Skipper barked, silencing the forklift. I snickered to myself.

"The point is he has one of your gearboxes!" Sparky said.

"We got the gearbox!" Chug said happily.

"You got the…..you got the gear….." Dusty's and face broke into a smile. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Woo-hoo" I cheered.

"Oh, wait! It gets better!" Sparky said. "He's gonna ship it out tonight!"

"We'll have it in a couple of days!" Chug called.

"Hey, we can race again!" Dusty said to me.

"You bet your propeller!" I said with a laugh.

"This is the best news!" Dusty sighed happily. "This is just what I needed to hear right now."

"We'll let you know as soon as we get it!" Dottie called from the background.

"Hey Dusty, Belinda! Listen to my new siren!" Mayday called. A second later, a strange squeaking sound came from the radio. Dusty stared, blinking a bit and I tilted my head to one side in confusion. The sound stopped after a moment. "Huh?"

A pause, then Dottie came on. "Yeah…..I haven't actually hooked up his siren yet."

Suddenly a noise echoed throughout the base.

"All aircraft, be advised, Superintendent Spinner has entered the base. I repeat, Superintendent Spinner has entered the base." Patch said over the intercom. Someone was honking their horn loudly in the distance.

"Hm, something's up." Dusty realized. "Gotta go, guys!"

"Bye guys" I said and we singed off.

We both wandered out side in confusion as the honking got louder. Maru was doing tune-ups on Dipper and Windlifter. Falco was sitting on top of one of one of Windlifter propeller blades. Falco had seemed to have taken a liking to Windlifter. I looked over and saw Blade coming our way and he didn't look happy. Suddenly Nick appeared next to me and he looked annoyed and had a scowl on his face. Now that was unusual for Nick who always seemed happy.

"Hey, what's going on?" Dusty asked as he approached them with me following.

"Eh, park superintendent." Maru scoffed with an unimpressed look.

"He waxes himself. Daily." Windlifter said, causing snickers from Dipper and Maru. Falco let out a squawk and shook his head for some unknown reason.

Just then a Cadillac drove up to the base, a Piston Peak National Park logo on his flanks and his paintjob a glistening, sparkling white. I couldn't believe that this was the super intendent. He looked more like a city person.

"Honk-honk, beep-beep!" The Cadillac called obnoxiously. "Park Superintendent coming. I sign your paychecks! Anybody gonna greet me? Yes, you are!"

"We are?" I asked in a confused was as I looked at Maru.

Maru rolled his eyes. "I got some oil pans to change." We watched as he drove away to the tower.

"Blade, Blade, Blade." The Cadillac said as he approached the fire chief. I was feeling sorry for him already. Blade that is, I didn't really care about the super intendent.

"What do you want, Cad?" Blade demanded. His scowl seemed to grow deeper with Cad's presence and Nick looked like he wanted to tear Cad to pieces. Come to think of it I was thinking about it as well.

"That's a big hill." Cad sighed. "Listen. Do you think I like driving all around over here and up there, over there just to complain? Answer: no, I don't. But I heard from some campers that one of your staff just soaked them with that red fire phosphorescent stuff that you use. The deodorant."

"Oh boy" I sighed and glanced at Dusty. I reckon that Cad could talk the hind legs of several donkeys.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. That was my fault." Dusty said as he owned up.

"The team needs to train." Blade told Cad. "There's gonna be some mud spilled along the way." But Cad didn't seem to be listing to Blade now. One glance at use and he had found a new interest.

"Are you kidding me?" Cad laughed before approaching us.

"No, that's the way it works." Blade growled, rolling his eyes and turning as Cad made his way over to us. I took a step back and that seemed to catch Nick's interest that I had seemed to back down.

"No, you are not!" Cad said happily, looking to Dusty and me. "Blade, you're hiding a world famous racer right here at Piston Peak! Ripslinga!"

Dusty blinked and cleared his throat. "It's…..Crophopper."

"Crophoppa!" Cad corrected.

"Dusty." The former crop duster introduced. "And this is Belinda Autumn Splash."

I just nodded a greeting.

"Ah so she's your cute little pony" Cad cooed at me. "Hey, she's quite the looker too."

I flattened my ears and beared my teeth. I didn't take kindly to anything like that and I wasn't a pony either. Cad on the other hade wasn't fazed by this.

"Me, Cad Spinner." Cad introduced. "You, one fast plane! What are you doing up here?"

Dusty perked up a bit in pride. "Well, I'm getting certified—"

"Doesn't matter." Cad interrupted. "Tomorrow night. The lodge. Grand reopening party. You're invited! And your little pony. I'm thinking high-speed flyover. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking it'll be…it'll be dark." Dusty noted as he remembered what Blade had said.

"And I think you're wolf in sheep's clothing" I stated before moving over to Blade and the others.

Cad didn't seem to notice. "Hey! There's gonna be a lot of VIPs. 'Very Important Planes.' How would you like to rub tires with the Secretary of the Interior of the United States…..of America? I smell photo op! Flash! Cha-ching! Ya gotta do it, come on!"

"I smell somethin' else." Blade noted, mostly to Windlifter and Dipper beside him. I flicked one ear and hoped that Cad would go away, before I make him.

Cad rolled his eyes, looking to the fire chief. "Blade, Blade, Blade. Can I explain something? Yes, I can. Look, spilling mud on people makes for sad campers. Big party at my lodge makes for happy campers! You understand?"

"You've packed too many 'happy campers' into the park." Blade snapped. "And way too many into that lodge."

"Oh, we've got a structural fire engine down there protecting it." Cad assured. I could see that Cad was asking for a kick but I didn't dare move. Instead I just flattened my ears.

"This isn't just about protecting the lodge." Blade protested. "There's low humidity, a lot of dead wood, and we're already short on resources as it is."

Dipper moved over to Dusty and I followed. Dusty was watching Cad argue with Blade.

"He got the Park Service to shift eighty percent of our budget to his lodge restoration project" She whispered to us. Dusty blinked is supprise.

"This base is held together with baling wire and duct tape!" Blade snapped. "Maru had to rebuild that old tower himself!"

"It's better than new!" came Maru's distant shout. I smirked at that comment.

"Hear me, fellow forest friends, dirty though you may be." Cad called, clearly not taking an interest in Blade's words. "This is an historic weekend." A ringing sound rang out, and an antenna rose from Cad's headlight. "Cad, you got thirty seconds. Go. Ah, I don't care how much it costs! Yes! Get the crystal glasses! Yes, fluted! Were you born in a barn? Come on! The lodge is only gonna be grand-reopened once. I'm not gonna—" He caught sight of the firefighters glaring at him. "Could you hold on a second?" He reversed and drove over to park next to some dumpsters. "Then fire the old lady and get somebody who can get them!"

I was starting to feel sorry for Blade and the team because they had to put up with Cad.

Cad finally returned, a smirk on his face. "You're not the only ones who can put out a fire, right?" He looked to Dusty. "So will I see you at the party? Yes, I will!" He clicked his tongue. "Superstar! And I know I'll see you too, sweaty"

"Just keep talking" I growled "Because I attack at any second." Dusty moved his wing I front of me knowing that I would.

Card hardly seemed to notice as he drove off. "Can you believe it? Dusty Cropslinger! He and his pilot are even more famous than you, Blazin' Blade!"

Suddenly a stone bounced off of Cad's roof. He spun around to look for the culprit but everyone gave an innocent look (or a glare in Blade's case). Looking up I saw Falco circling overhead. Cad turned and continued on his merry way. Blade watched Cad leave before sighing in frustration and rolling off, no doubt a major headache beginning to form. I watch him go before turning to the others. Dusty looked to Windlifter and Dipper.

'Blazin' Blade'?" he asked confused.

"Shh!" Dipper said hurriedly.

"What, me shush?" Dusty asked, Dipper continuing her efforts to silence him. "I just said 'Blazin' Blade'."

"Kilawu!" Windlifter finally said.

"What?" Dusty whispered.

"Tonight." Windlifter said. "Main hanger. Tell no one. Especially Blade."

Later on I wander off to find Blade. He was sitting outside his hangar facing west. I nickered to him to catch his attention. Blade turned to me and I cocked my head to one side.

"You okay Blade?" I asked as I moved up next to him.

"I'm fine" answered Blade as he looked back over the valley.

"If you say so" I said not wanting to upset anything. Looking up I could see Nick looping around overhead.

"I noticed your reaction to Cad" said Blade. "You didn't like him at all."

"No and have my own reasons" I answered. "He is really annoying"

"Hmmm" Blade hummed in agreement. Suddenly we heard a screech. Glancing up Blade and I saw Falco soring overhead with something is his claws. Just then Falco dropped it and a fish hit me smack in the face. I shook the fish off and glared up a Falco. Blade on the other hand smirked.

"Your bird been catching the fish out of the rivers?" asked Blade.

"Yes he has" I answered. "I had taught him to fish because when I found him he was only half grown."

"How easy was that?" asked Blade as Falco pounced on the fish and flew off to eat it somewhere.

"It was not easy" I answered "Let's just say that it took him two and a half years before he caught his first fish."

"Guess that you weren't cut out to raise another species" said Blade.

"Once I lost my heard and escaped the two-legers Falco was the only friend I had" I countered "Until I appeared I this world. Still haven't figured out how though."

"Hmmm" said Blade.

"Well I'm off to find dinner" I said "See ya later."

"Rito" Blade answered before turning back to the setting sun. Blade was lost in his past and tonight Dusty and I were going to find out what.


	11. Chapter 11: A secret past

That night, just as we were told to do, Dusty and I went to the main hangar. Dusty was pretty cautious about the whole thing. When we arrived I lifted my hoof to knock on the door when there was a rattling sound came from inside the hanger, and a metal slot opened up in the door to reveal a green eye staring out at them.

"AH!" Dusty gasped, jumping back in surprise. Even I back off but we soon calmed down when we realized that it was only Maru.

"Password." Maru whispered.

"Password?" Dusty repeated. "You didn't tell us—"

"Shh!" Maru shushed.

"You didn't tell us a password." Dusty whispered.

"It's 'inferno.'" Maru whispered.

"Oh, okay." Dusty nodded a said nothing. Maru frowned.

"oh, Inferno" whispered Dusty.

"Inferno" I whispered as well, feeling a little silly.

The slot closed, and Maru pulled open the doors. "Glad you could make it! You like 'inferno'? It was either that or 'maelstrom' but that one's so Nordic."

As we wandered inside we discovered that the entire Air Attack team was present, inclouding Nick who was grinning like a maniac. Blade of course was not there. Dipper was smiling broadly at Dusty.

"Park it over here, Dust Storm!" Dipper called. "Our first date and I saved you a spot!"

I grinned at Dusty's expression as he moved over to Dipper. I sat down next to Nick on the left of Windlifter.

Maru moved over to some cans on a shelf and pulled out a video tape. The case read….

"Howard the Truck?" Dusty asked. "You invited me and Belinda here to watch—"

"Dude, dude, dude, judge not a video by its cover." Drip said.

Maru popped the video out of its case, pushing it into a video player and everyone directing their attention to the TV before them. After a commercial I could catch glimpses of two helicopters flying over an L.A. highway. The title came on: CHoPs. I had never heard of the show before but it sounded interesting. Then the actors appeared on the screen. A very familiar AgustaWestland and Hughes 500D helicopter.

Blazin' Blade Ranger and Nick Loopin' Lopez.

My jaw dropped in shock and Nick let out a chuckle at my expression.

"Hold on." Dusty finally got over his shock. "Blade was a TV star?"

"139 episodes of law-breaking love." Dipper sighed.

"Quiet" shouted Avalanche.

Blade and Nick arrested crooks, rescued trapped vehicles and people from a fire, and ended up scoring a double date by the end of the show. When Blade used his hoist to rescue a vehicle, everyone shouted "Hoist!" and took a sip of their oil. I compared the two helicopters to them on the TV. Nick, he was a bit hot-headed but seemed quite passionate about his job. Even though Nick was a ghost now he was still hot-headed. Blade usually seemed to be the one to calm down the smaller helicopter and stop him from doing something stupid and Blade seemed…..happy. He even had a catchphrase that he would say to Nick: "Good move, partner." For once, he wasn't using that sarcastic, wry sense of Dusty and I knew. He was laughing and smiling and looking so much different than the fire chief of Piston Peak Air Attack. Suddenly everything fell into place. Blade is the way he is now because he lost his best friend. Our pasts were in a way very similar. Soon the episode finished.

"Dudes, let's watch episode 38, 'Super Copter'!" Drip said excitedly.

"'Super Copter'?" Cabbie scoffed. "This show stinks."

"What are you talking about?" Dynamite said incredulously. "This show is the best!"

"I'm with Cabbie." Windlifter agreed. I flicked an ear at the argument. Even Nick had joined in even though only Windlifter and I could hear him.

Dusty rolled forward a bit. "Hey guys? Guys!"

"QUIET!" Avalanche shouted, silencing the commotion.

"Thanks." Dusty nodded. "I just don't get something. If Blade was such a big TV star, what is he doing here?"

"I don't know." Drip admitted.

"WE DON'T KNOW!" Avalanche confirmed. I winced.

"It's a mysterious mystery." Drip said.

"It's like my fiancé." Pinecone sighed. "He just vanished! Poof!"

"Whoooooooo!" Drip moaned creepily.

"From my experience, this kind of stuff is classified." Cabbie said.

"BLACK OPS!" Avalanche agreed.

"I heard he went cuckoo on the set." Blackout said.

"You know, probably top secret." Cabbie noted.

"CIA!" Avalanche screamed.

"I'm sure he could tell us."

"YES!"

"But he'd have to kill us."

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

"I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't kill you" I managed to get in.

"Whatever the reason is, it's his business and we're not asking." Dynamite said.

I turned my attention back to the TV even though I was full of questions about Blades past. And Blade had things that he needed to let go.

After another few episodes then team decided to call it quits and started to scatter off to their respectful hangers. As Dusty and I were wandering back to our hangars my ears picked up the faint sound of thunder in the distance. I didn't think much of it as we went to sleep. As I slept I kept thinking about Blade.


	12. Chapter 12: Blade's Pain

Blades Past

As I slept I started to dream.

-Dream-

 _Darkness_

 _Pitch black. Not a sound._

 _A flash of light and I was standing near a set._

 _A sound of rotors._

" _I'll be done soon" came a voice. Nick?_

 _I saw Nick flying over the set doing a loop. Suddenly a crosswind grabbed him._

 _CRASH!_

" _Nick" screamed Blade as Nick fell towards the ground. Blades paint kept changing from white to red._

" _Blade" Nick called desperately._

" _Nick" called Blade._

 _Fire._

 _Fire burning around them._

 _Alarms. Noise._

 _Burning._

 _NO!_

 _Darkness._

"Har" I gasped as I suddenly woke up. Cold sweat soaked my coat. I panted for a bit before turning to Dusty. The plane was staring out the window. I got up and walked over to him.

"Dusty?" I asked "What are you doing up?"

"Wondering the same about Blade." Dusty said, keeping his gaze out the window. I looked out the window as well to see Blade sitting out on a cliff a short distance from the base, staring out at the forest below. A lightning storm was coming through the park but it was still a far way away.

"What's he doing out there?" I asked.

"Don't know" answered Dusty. The orange and white plane soon settled down to sleep again. I lay there quietly and waited for Dusty to go back to sleep. Nick had slipped in and beckoned for me to follow him. I nodded and listened to Dusty's steady breathing. I soon determined that he was asleep and slipped out of the hangar. Nick was waiting for me.

"Yes Nick" I said to the smaller helicopter.

"Sorry about the dream" apologized Nick.

"Oh the drea- wait you gave me that?" I said in astonishment.

"Yes, but let me explain" Nick said hastily "Blade was having the dream not long ago. I sort'a passed in on to you in hopes that you can help him."

"I understand Nick" I assured before heading off towards Blade. I had taken on my wolf form so that I wouldn't make too much noise. I didn't know how Blade would react to me showing up but he was feeling glum. I slowed and changed back to my normal form before walking up to Blade. As I came up to stand next to Blade's nose, his eyes flicking over to stare at me.

"Hey Blade." I greeted in a soft voice.

"Hey Belinda" Blade's said back. Blade's voice sounded funny as if he was trying to hold back tears. He clenched his jaw as he tried to hold back tears. I turned my head to nuzzle him with affection but he shied away from me, so I gave up. A flash of lightning shot across the sky and a clap of thunder sounded out. I hoped that Dusty didn't hear it and wake up to find me gone. I knew that he was afraid of thunder storms since the incident in the sea.

"Blade, I know that you don't feel like talking about anything but I know that something I bothering you" I said gently "It's about Nick isn't it?" Blade jolted a little in shock that I had figured it out.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

"Something from the past told me" I answered. Blade stared at me for a while before looking out over the forest again.

"You're a bit like Windlifter" Blade stated bluntly.

"It seems like that even though I'm Australian" I said "I think it had something to do with my Mum somehow. She was Native American."

"So that's why you talk to yourself all the time" said Blade.

"So why don't you tell me about Nick" I asked "Or would you prefer that I tell you a bit about my past?"

"Why don't you tell your past first?" Blade asked as he turned back to me.

"Okay" I agreed "It all happened many years ago. I was only a youngen at the time. Dad was full Australian while Mum was Native American. We were a well-built herd and roamed the Outback with ease. I was one of the protectors over the young ones and foals. One day a younger stallion that had been cast out of another heard challenged Dad head on. The battle raged between the for hours but in the end the younger one won. Dad had died that day protecting the heard but had failed. The new leader was evil in every way. He and his band took control of the heard. Driving out all the young colt four years and over. My older brother was never heard from again. My two younger siblings who were twins also vanish never to be heard from again. One day he had turn on me but Mum turned on him telling me to flee and never look back. I can only guess what happened to her. My family and heard were gone. I was captured by the two leggers but I eventually escaped. Then I ended up in this world. I meet Dusty and soon began to trust him and others."

"You've had a rough past" said Blade once I had finished.

"So have you" I counterd.

"Okay, I'll tell you what happened" said Blade quietly after a while. "It was just another day on the set-"

"Okay, you lot" called the director "Last shot for the day an well call it quits."

"Sure thing" Blade said.

"Good, I'm hungry" said Nick with a goofy grin.

"I heard that, Lopez!" the director called "Just get up there and do your loop a few times so we can get some shots done."

"Sir yes sir!" Nick said, laughing. "Watch and learn, Blade."

"Learn what? How to be a show-off?" Blade smirked.

Nick rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Oh ha-ha, so funny."

"Just go do what you do best." Blade encouraged. "We're all tired and we're waiting on you."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Nick laughed, starting up his rotors and flying up into the air.

CHoPS Blade looked at Nick smiling broadly as he watched his friend take off. Nick flew up higher, positioning himself so that he could do his loop.

"You sure that its safe?" asked Blade worriedly.

"Hey, take it easy, hermano." Nick said. "I got this."

Nick hovered in place and he began his signature inside loop. Then, quite suddenly, Nick veered off course and began spiralling in the air out of control.

"Cr-crosswind!" Nick called into the radio, struggling in the air. "I can't control—" He couldn't finish as he suddenly slammed into the side of a building. Nick's rotors hit the building, getting sheared off in seconds. The smaller helicopter began tumbling, down to his doom below.

"NICK!" Blade screamed, starting up his rotors and flying after his friend. The smaller helicopter was thoroughly beaten from his fall. He was dented and broken. All his rotors were broken and his visor cracked. He coughed up hydraulic fluid and oil, more of it trickling down his flank from the tree branch stabbed into his side. Blade was there, staring in horror.

"Holy Chrysler….." Blade gasped. "Nick?"

"Bl-Blade….." Nick gasped, like he couldn't get a proper breath "I….I can't…..see….."

"Th-that's just your visor, partner." Blade said hurriedly, trying and failing to stay calm. He gently pushed the green visor away from Nick's windshield, revealing his eyes to be a warm amber color. "There. Better?"

Nick cracked a smile. "Yeah…." He coughed again, harshly more fluid coming from his mouth.

"Nick! Nick, stay with me. Don't die." Blade was borderline hyperventilating now. "Okay…okay…..uh…oh Ford what do I do?"

"Blade….." Nick whimpered a bit. "…..don't…..don't leave…don't leave me…."

"No, no, no, no." Blade gave his friend a gentle nuzzle. "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here. You're going to be fine."

"I'm sorry…..Blade…" Nick coughed, his eyes beginning to shut.

"No, don't close your eyes!" Blade gave Nick a small shove, forcing the smaller helicopter to wince a bit in pain. "Don't close your eyes. You'll be fine. I'm right here, nothing's gonna happen to you."

Nick stared at Blade, amber locked onto ice blue. Nick smiled softly. "Thanks….partner…" His eyes fluttered shut.

"No, Nick!" Blade gave the smaller helicopter a shove. "Hey! Keep your eyes open!" But Nick had gone still, no longer breathing. Blade was hyperventilating again, tears running down his nose. "Nick…..no, please…please wake up….NICK!"

KABOOM!

Sparks had hit some oil drums. As the fire surrounded them as Blade tried to shield Nick from the flames. Then everything went black. Blade awoke in hospital two days later only to discover that Nick had died in the fire.

I stared and Blade in horror.

"I….I didn't…know what to do….." Blade whispered, tears threatening to fall.

"I'm sorry Blade" I whispered to the red helicopter. Blade closed his eyes and a few stray tears slipped out. I took on my wolf form and gently wiped them away. Blade opened his eyes to stare at me. I sat down neck to him to try and offer a comfort that I could.

Blade sighed heavily and leaned on me slightly. "You can't replace him….he was my best friend….but….I wouldn't…..mind the company…." He swallowed "Would you stay please?"

"I won't leave you Blade" I answered. The storm was still raging but that didn't matter.

I looked over and across the base to see Windlifter and Nick watching use in silence. I could have sworn that Nick smiled. _"One day Blade you and your partner will be together again. I promise"_


	13. Chapter 13: First fire

It was early the next morning. The sun was still raising and I was a bit warm. Blade hade left earlier on tin the morning going on spot-fire patrol. The base had just finished breakfast but I was still grazing on the short grass around the hangars. Then the siren went off. I lifter my head, with a mouthful of grass, and walked over to the others.

"All aircraft and jumpers, lightning storm came through." Patch reported. "We've got multiple starts north of Skyline Drive, east of Coil Springs."

Blade lowered himself onto the base runway, Windlifter, Dusty, Dipper and I came up to meet him. "Lightning storm started a whole slew of spot fires and they've merged. This is a big one."

"Winds are out of the southwest with a moderate rate of spread." Patch said.

Windlifter looked to the treetops, noticing how they swayed a little. "Rapid."

"Wait, we have an update: rapid rate of spread." Patch announced. Dusty and I stared at the Skycrane, amazed. I had barely noticed that the wind had picked up and normally I could.

"Dipper and Windlifter load up." Blade ordered. "Champ, Belinda, wait in the hanger." I flicked and ear.

"What?" Dusty asked, disappointed.

"Blade, Dusty's been practicing so hard." Dipper protested "So has Belinda"

"This ain't no campfire." Blade growled.

"Come on, I can do this!" Dusty insisted.

"You're not certified." Blade snapped.

"Just give him a shot." Dipper practically pleaded.

Blade cast her a glare. "He's not certified!"

"We need every plane we've got." Windlifter finally said. Blade regarded the larger helicopter for a moment before turning his gaze to Dusty as the racer approached. I tossed my head in agreement.

"I want to help." Dusty said firmly.

I looked at Blade without fear. The helicopter stared at Dusty as he started up his rotors, turning to fly off. "Maru!"

"Yeah, Blade?" Maru asked.

"Load him up!" Blade ordered.

"Uh, okay!" Maru agreed, pulling a retardant hose over to Dusty. He began filling the racer's pontoons, disappearing and then reappearing with a camera. He snapped a picture of Dusty and then one of me.

"What was that for?" Dusty asked.

Maru smirked. "The Wall."

Finally we reached the fire. This fire was much larger than the first fire that Dusty and I have seen. It was almost twice the size. Immediately, everyone got to work. Blade in command as usual. The smokejumpers were dropped down to the ground to start work on a fire break. I kept my radio on so that I could hear what was going on.

"Belinda" Blade called to me.

"Yea Blade" I answered.

"Find a way to get down on the ground to help" Blade ordered.

"Copy that" I answered and flew down a close as I could, Blade watching from the air. As I neared the tress I took on my wolf form. The moment my paws touched a branch I leapt to a lower one on the next tree and so forth. I was soon on the ground and rushed to the smokejumpers, taking on my normal form. I listened to Dynamite's instructions before starting to shove logs out of the way.

"Dipper, move into position." Blade ordered. "Split load. Coverage level eight." I heard Blade bark. I kept listening to what was going on above and below so that nothing would happen.

"Dipper copies!" Dipper reported, dropping her load of retardant around the fire.

"Come left one wingspan on your next drop." Blade said. "Champ, tag on and extend. Split load."

"Copy that." Dusty said, moving in for a drop.

"Too high!" Blade barked. "It all dispersed! Windlifter, finish off that ridge." Dusty didn't fly low enough.

"Windlifter copies." The Skycrane said.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew embers over the barer and into the trees.

"Let's go now" Dynamite ordered "Move, move." We stopped what we were doing an started bolting after Dynamite. Just then a flaming tree crashed in front of us and we skidded to a stop.

"Blade!" Dynamite called into the radio. "We got a situation! The wind shifted. The fire jumped the line."

"Can you make it to your safety zone?" Blade asked.

"No, no good!" Dynamite said as we bunched together. "Our escape route is blocked. We need a drop." The smoke was hard to breath but we stood firm.

"Copy that." Blade said "Dipper, Smokejumpers trapped. Left flank, set up for a drop."

"I see them!" Dusty suddenly said, diving down. "I've got it!" Dusty perfectly dropped his retardant and snuffing out the flames around the us, while also staining the us bright red.

"All right. We're clear." Dynamite said. "Let's move! Let's get to the lake!" After the tree was moved we continued bolting for the lake. I took up the rear to make sour that the others were safe.

"That's my Dustmuffin!" Dipper cheered.

"Champ, load and return." Blade ordered. "We still got a lot of work to do."

"Copy that!" Dusty turned and hurried back to base.

We continued moving through the fire and towards safety. Just the another tree, a bit bigger than the last one, fell in front of me cutting me off from the rest of the smokejumpers. I reared up high on my hind legs letting out a horse like scream in fright. I passed a bit trying to find a way out but the fire had surrounded me. Meanwhile the smokejumpers were safe. I could hear Dynamite doing a roll call.

"Where's Belinda?" asked Dynamite.

"She was right behind me" Drip answered "Just before a tree came down."

"Blade" called Dynamite.

"Go ahead Dynamite" answered Blade.

"Belinda's missing. Can you see her?" asked Dynamite worriedly.

Blade glanced down and saw me running away a short distance away from the burning log.

"Belinda" Blade called down to me "Your heading right into the fire. Turn around so that I can get you out."

"Don't worry Blade" I called back as I stopped and turned around "I know what I'm doing. You can yell at me all you like later." Them I took off again, heading straight for the burning log. I dodged all of the falling derbies that I could before lifting up on my hind legs, clearing the fallen tree with ease. Then I just kept on moving at a flat out gallop until I reached the smokejumpers. They were standing on the sand near the lake.

"Just stay near the lake, Belinda" Dynamite said, her voice fully serious as I pulled up panting from the run.

"No argument here" I said as the others started to fuss over me.

"You okay?" Drip asked looking at me for an answer.

"I'm fine." I answered. "Just hot , tired and thirsty."

"Lakes just there" Pinecone pointed out to me.

"Yeah, I know" I answered before moving closer and dropping my head down so that I could get a drink.

"HOW DID YOU GET OUT?" Avalanche bellowed to me.

"I back you and jumped over the tree" I answered.

"Wait, if you could clear that tree why didn't you jump the other?" asked Blackout.

"I never abandon a herd in trouble" I answered "It's just who I am. I would rather perish with the herd than live the rest of my life regretting that I survived while they perished."

"You're a good one to have around" said Dynamite with a smile.

"What's going on down there?" Blade's voice demanded over their radios.

"No worries, Blade." Dynamite assured. "Belinda's safe now."

"Good." Blade said.

I looked you to see Nick grin before vanishing.

It literally took all day to get the fire under control and fully contained. By the time everyone got back, they were all pretty dirty and tired. My white markings were now grey and red from the retardant. Everyone looked exhausted.

Dusty and Dipper were talking, Dusty looking rather proud of himself. "I saw the Jumpers in trouble, so I —"

"You broke formation in a crowded airspace." Blade chided, a stern glare in his eyes. "Could've been you spread all over the woods instead of retardant. Don't go planning your certification party yet, Champ." He turned and went off to have a hose down.

Dusty slumped down a bit. "Ah, man."

"Come on, Blade's just telling you 'Good job' in his own way." Dipper said encouragingly. Dusty cast her a look. The sound of loud engines rang out, and we all looked up to see a jet passing over the base. "Whoa! That was low!"

"Cad's VIPs." Windlifter realized but he showed no emotion. I snorted and shook myself off.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Dusty remembered and perked up. "He's having a big party up at the lodge tonight. We should go!"

"A second date?" Dipper chuckled, looking excited.

"Wha-?" I asked but they took no notice.

"No, I meant all of us." Dusty said, looking mostly to Dipper. "You know, you and me and Belinda and Windlifter, and just everybody."

"Oh! Okay." Dipper looked a bit disappointed, but nodded. "You're right. I should get to know your friends."

Dusty stared at her. "But they're your friends."

"Well, yeah, I guess." Dipper chuckled before driving off. "Let's not bicker."

Dusty cast a look to Windlifter, who raised an eye frame at him. It look as though he was asking why Dusty had to drag him into this.

"Now" I said turning to Dusty "Bath time for you."

"Oh alright" Dusty agreed and went off to get hosed down. I grinned as Dusty was hosed down with cold water.

"Your turn" Maru said as he finally turned to me with the hose. I stood stile while he hosed me down, the ash slipping off of my coat. The moment Maru turned the hose of I shook water of all-over the place, including on him.

"Arg, Belinda" groaned Maru "Off you go."

"Righto" I answered and walked off. I decided to go tell Blade that some of us were going down to the lodge.

"Hey Blade!" I called as I knocked on the doors "I know that you're in there."

"Evening" Blade greeted as he opened the doors with a bit of a smirk.

"I've got something to tell you" I said to Blade.

"Go on" Blade answered.

"A bunch of us are going down to the party at the lodge tonight. You want to come?" I asked with a flick of my ear.

Blade's face fell into a frown. "If I had to choose between going to that lodge and diving headfirst into an inferno to my fiery death, I'd take the inferno."

I snickered "A no would have been good enough for me."

"I couldn't just say 'no.' I had to emphasize just how much I don't want to be near that lodge." Blade reasoned, a smirk on his face. I grinned back.

"Okay, so what are you going to do?" I asked.

"Sleep, maybe." Blade said dismissively. "Paperwork. Boring stuff."

"Oh, okay" I nodded "Sounds like you got a lonely night ahead of you."

"I've spent quite a few 'lonely' nights up here in the past." Blade assured. "I can go through one more. Besides, with the Smokejumpers out, it's going to be nice and quiet."

"Okay, if you say so" I agreed.

"You go have fun." Blade encouraged. "Oh, and no trying to kill Cad, even though we would love to be rid of him."

"All right. G'night!" I said and gave him a nuzzle.

"Night." Blade nodded, disappearing back into his hanger. As I walked away I heard a noise.

"You can come out Dusty" I said and I saw Dusty come out from behind another hangar looking sheepish.

"You always know" said Dusty.

"Yup, now let's get some rest before heading of" I said with a laugh as we headed of together. Yup it was going to be a long night.


	14. Chapter 14: The lodge

The Fusel Lodge was all aglow for the party when we arrived. It was bustling with activity. Dusty, Maru, Dipper, Windlifter and I were greeted by a couple of assistants. The inside of the loagh looked like it was fit for a king.

"Whoa!" Dusty breathed. "Look at this place!"

"It's so beautiful!" Dipper sighed. "Dusty-poo, this is the perfect date! Let's check it out before we check in."

"Amazing" I agreed. Suddenly my ears picked up a whirring sound. I looked behind us to see several small vacuums thingies cleaning up the dust and dirt that we had left behind. For something that was in a park, they were really clean.

"Hey there, folks." A bellhop greeted. "Like to get your picture taken with the superintendent?" We looked over to where he was pointing to a line of campers getting their pictures with Cad. But then "Cad" fell over to reveal a cardboard cut-out.

"Uh….." Dusty blinked.

"Ha. Classy." Maru smirked. I snicked at Dusty's face. Then Maru and Windlifter started to move away. I decided to leave Dusty to his fate with Dipper.

"Bye Dusty! Bye Dipper! Enjoy your date!" I called.

If possible, Dusty would've paled. "Belinda!" I laughed and wandered up to Maru and Windlifter.

"You left him alone with Dipper?" asked Maru when he saw me.

"He'll be fine" I assured "Dusty get fawned over all the time. Besides it gets him back for a prank he played on me."

"What about you?" Maru asked. "Any stall's hit on ya?"

"Sometimes" I answered with a nod. "Then I hit on them." I stomped on of my back hooves to make it clear.

"I feel sorry for them" said Maru "What did you do to them?"

"Oh, a kick close enough to the head usury makes them back down" I answered "And if that doesn't work a swift kick to the ribs dose."

"Now I feel sorry for them" chuckled Maru "But I like ya."

"Why thankyou Maru" I answered with a mock bow. Maru just laughed with me until I paused at the sound of a train whistle. Curious, I walked towards the sound with Maru and Windlifter following behind. I couldn't see over the crowed when I was on all fours so I reared up on my hind legs and balanced on them. It was mostly just more campers coming into the lodge, but one vehicle looked really important. A forest green Ford Bronco-like car with an official-looking logo printed on his sides.

Cad immediately approached the green car. "Welcome, Mr. Secretary, to the grand reopening weekend of the magnificent—"

"It's a pleasure to be here, Spinner." The green car said, driving off towards the lodge entrance. Cad hurriedly followed him. I dropped back down on all fours and turned back to Maru and Windlifter.

"Who's the Secretary?" I asked.

"Not sure" Maru shrugged. "Now come on. I need a coffee." I snickered and followed Maru and Windlifter off deeper into the lodge. I was certainly wasn't going to be by myself here.

Maru scoffed as he came back to us. "Don't even have normal coffee here. I had to get something called a 'Highway Expresso.'"

"What do you think?" Windlifter asked, the Skycrane wearing a pair of tinted sunglasses. I blinked in at him.

"You look good." Maru complimented.

Windlifter paused in thought. "Eh."

"It does make you look funny" I said with a laugh. Then I saw Cad out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head towards where he was, talking with the secretary. I grunted and turned back to Maru and Windlifter.

"What's up?" Maru asked.

"I was making sure that there was plenty of distance between me and him" I answered "Blade made me promise not to kill him."

"What a shame" Maru smirked.

"Yeah, so keep Cad away from me." I said "Or, if you really want to get rid of him, put him near me. But then Blade will have my hide. "

"You're so evil" chuckled Maru.

"So are you sometimes" I countered with a laugh.

"Hey guys!" Dusty called as he rolled over to us. "Dipper and I just met a nice couple celebrating their anniversary. We're gonna go out of the fire pit and celebrate. Wanna come?"

"Yeah, let's go!" Maru said, agreeing at once.

"Right with you Dusty" I said as we followed him outside.

"Oh, sure, sure." Harvey nodded. "I've been around the block a few times. I worked as a taco truck, sold carwash curtain rings for a while. Then, I got into RV tire sales. Winnie here was my showroom model."

"That's how we met." Winnie explained.

"Ah, nice." Dusty smiled, Maru nodding as though in approval. I just flicked an ear while Nick, who had come looking for us, pulled a face.

"It's true. For our wedding day, bought her the best set of whitewalls." Harvey said.

"We wore off the treads on our honeymoon." Winnie added. Dusty and Maru blinked. "Driving." Winnie said. The boys seemed very relieved to hear that second part.

"You know, Dusty and Belinda, maybe this firefighting thing will be a second career for you." Harvey said.

"Oh, yeah!" Dipper nodded. "This is a second career for all of us. Windlifter was a lumberjack, Cabbie was in the military, and me, well, I hauled cargo up in Anchorage. Yeah, a lot of guys up in Anchorage. I was beating them off with a stick. 'Come here, boy. No!' Boom!"

"Yeah it is" I said agreeing with them.

"Hey, big whirlybird, you haven't said much." Harvey said to Windlifter. "How about a toast?"

"Uh, Windlifter's not really much for speeches." Dipper protested politely. She quieted when Windlifter began chanting in his native language, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"A toast to Coyote." Windlifter said. "It was he who drove all day and all night to the base of Bright Mountain. With much difficulty, he climbed the mountain to obtain fire and brought it down to the first people. But in so doing, he burned his tires. And when Coyote saw his blackened tires, he thought they were his favourite snack, and he ate them! For he knew they were still full of life. And it was in this way, he let go of the old, and renewed himself like fire renews the earth." Stunned silence met the end of Windlifter's speech. I blinked but didn't know what to think. Eaven Nick looked confused.

"Uh, I'm just gonna say it." Dusty finally piped up. "You had me up until the part where he eats his own tires."

Maru chuckled. "Best toast ever, Wind. Cheers!"

"Cheers!" Everyone called.

It was quite late when everyone made their way back to base. We were all tired and ready for bed but they found they actually enjoyed themselves. Nick on the other hand was wide awake. After biding each other goodnight we dispersed to our own hangars. It didn't take Dusty long to fall asleep. While I was laying on the floor Nick came in through the roof.

"Go away Nick, I'm trying to sleep" I groaned in annoyance.

"It'll only take a minute but I wanted to thank you for helping Blade last night" said Nick.

"That's okay" I replied with a yawn.

"Goodnight" Nick whispered.

"Night" I whispered back before sleep overcame me.


	15. Chapter 15: A heros sacrifice

"Propwash Junction to Dusty and Belinda. Come in. Propwash Junction to Dusty and Belinda."

Dusty jolted a bit, accidentally backing into a shelf and knocking a box onto his head. I raised my head and turned to him at the sound of the commotion.

"Hey Skip! What's up?" yawned Dusty, as he tossed the bow of his head.

"Morning guys" I greeted.

"Did the gearbox come in?" Dusty asked excitedly.

There was some static before Skipper came on. "Well, we…we…."

"What is it?" Dusty asked with a concerned voice.

"So…..Dust…." Sparky said.

"Sparky, I'll….I'll tell them." Chug's voice lacked all joy, something very unusual for the fuel truck. "It was the wrong one. The crate…it was mislabelled. We've called every parts supplier, repair shop, and junkyard in the country. Nobody has your gearbox." Our faces fell. If that was the case then Dusty will never race again and he might not get certified as a fire fighter. If that happened then I will refuse to get certified.

"Dusty?" Skipper asked, since we hadn't answered.

Dusty took in a ragged breath. "I'm here."

"I'm sorry." Skipper said. Dusty didn't answer, all his energy being put forth to keep his tears at bay.

"I've gotta go" Dusty managed to say before singing off. I tuned and nuzzled him to try and comfort him. Dusty said nothing but slumped down on his landing gear. Suddenly the alarm went off.

"Oh, now what?" I growled in annoyance.

"Hey guys!" Maru called as he opened the door "Get this: Cad's fancy jet VIPs flew in too low over the burn area last night. Blew embers in all directions."

"You've got to be kidding me" I growled. Once this was over I was going to have Cad's hide.

"Champ!" Blade called as he hovered briefly in front of the doors. "Let's load and go!"

"Come on Dusty" I said as we left the hangar. This day just couldn't get any better could it.

* * *

"Fire broke containment and split in two." Blade explained as he, Dusty, Windlifter, Dipper and I flew towards the blazes. "Windlifter, you and Dipper take the Coil Springs fire. Me, Belinda, and the SEAT will take Whitewall Rapids."

"Windlifter copies." Windlifter said as he and Dipper banked off in the other direction. Meanwhile Blade, Dusty and I headed for the other fire. It was massive. I looked down at all of the burning ground as we weaved through the smoke towards the crest of the ridge. Blade's eyes widened a bit when he saw the lodge.

"Maru, come in" he barked over the radio.

"Yeah, Blade?" Maru asked.

"It's worse than we thought." Blade reported. "Get on the horn down to the lodge. That fire is about four hours from their front door. They're gonna have to evacuate."

"Right away" Maru said as he signed off. If I remembered correctly, there are a lot of people in the park.

"If we're gonna save the lodge, we've gotta keep this fire from cresting the ridge." Blade told Dusty and me, before turning most of his attention to Dusty. "I'll drop, then you tag on and extend. And make it a split load. That way we can double up and widen it downwind of the ridge for structure protection. There's not much time so we need to move fast. Copy that?" Dusty didn't respond. "Hey! You copy that?"

"Yes. Yes! Copy that." Dusty replied. I knew that he wasn't concentrating very hard. I banked off out of the way. There wasn't much that I could do at the moment. Nick hovered by my side watching Blade drop his share of retardant on the fire before moving and allowing Dusty to drop his load. But, to Blade's irritation and my horror, Dusty dropped his entire tank's worth of retardant.

"You gotta be kidding me." Blade growled. He flew up alongside Dusty and glared at the plane.

"Was that your whole tank?" Blade demanded.

"Yeah." Dusty confirmed.

"You just wasted all of it!" Blade yelled.

"I was just following your orders!" Dusty protested.

"I said 'split load.'" Blade corrected. "We were going to make a secondary line to protect that lodge."

"It'll be fine. I can reload at the lake." Dusty tried to confirm.

"Negative!" Blade snapped. "Return to base."

"What? No, there's no time. Let's just get this fire out!" Dusty suddenly dived down towards the lake.

"Hey, hey!" Blade called. "You need to listen to me!"

"I'll be fine!" Dusty shouted back, still diving. I dived after the plane.

"Dusty no" I yelled "Pull up."

"These crosswinds are too strong. Return to base!" Blade ordered as he followed Dusty and me.

"This is what you trained me to do!" Dusty protested, speaking into the radio.

"Not under these conditions!" Blade countered.

"If we're gonna get this fire out, I've gotta reload." Dusty was getting closer to the surface of the lake.

"Pull up!" Blade shouted. "That's an order!"

"No! I can do this!" Dusty hit the surface of the lake, only for his hard landing and the crosswinds to jerk him off balance. He shouted in surprise, ending up taking a nosedive in the water. As his tail came up I clipped me, nocking me into the water as well. Luckily, the buoyancy of the pontoons kept him afloat. I came up spluttering, quickly taking on my wolf form so that I could swim better.

"You okay" Blade quickly asked.

"Yes" I said as I continued trying to swim for the bank.

"I've taken in too much water. My engine stalled." Dusty reported.

"Stalled?" Blade groaned. I looked over my shoulder as the currents started dragging Dusty and me into the rapids. I didn't bother to swim against them. Instead I swam downstream and across.

"Keep your pontoons downstream." Blade instructed as he flew over Dusty. "I'll keep ahead of you."

"I'll get out on my own." Dusty said.

"Really?" Blade scoffed. "How you plannin' on doing that?"

"I'll restart my engine." Dusty reasoned.

"Just hang on." Blade called. "I'm gonna pull you both to shore." He moved closer to me first.

"Get Dusty out" I called to him "I'll get out on my own." Blade nodded and moved closer to Dusty.

Dusty furiously revved his engine, and his propellers began spinning again. "Got it!"

Blade narrowed his eyes, hovering down closer. He threw the hoist, but Dusty hit a rock and his nose dipped below the water. His engine stalled again, and Blade's hoist didn't wrap around his tail enough to hook on. Dusty was swept away again, down a small drop as the current carried him along. The orange and white plane shouted a bit in surprise, starting to get a little freaked out over the lack of control he had in the water. I was still getting dragged along but had managed to get closed to the bank.

"Are you all right?" Blade called, noting the number of fallen trees hanging over the water.

"I'm okay!" Dusty confirmed.

"There's too much coverage. Don't worry! I'll get you at the next clearing." Blade called, flying ahead to find a clear spot downriver.

"Right!" Dusty coughed a bit as water splashed into his mouth. Blade managed to find a clear area and readied the hoist again. Taking aim, he threw the hook and cable. Dusty's pontoon hooked onto a log in the river, forcing his front half below the water and causing the hook to bounce off him. Blade tried to move, but the cable tightened as the hook caught onto a log part of a small dam in the river.

"The hoist! It's caught!" Blade struggled to pull the hoist free, finding himself anchored to the ground. I saw the logs and began to swim harder towards them. As I reached them I pulled myself out and ran along them to the caught hoist. I immediately I set to work to free the hoist. Dusty stared up at Blade with fear in his eyes, and suddenly the current pushed him along and away from his supposed saviors.

"Blade!" Dusty called, fear in his tone. "Blade!"

"Oh, come on." Blade gave another tug, but the hoist was caught tight. "You need to start your engine. You got clear water, you can take off before the falls." Dusty spun around and saw with horror that a significant-sized waterfall dropped off only a couple hundred yards away.

"It's your only chance!" Blade shouted.

"Right, right!" Dusty hurriedly started up his engine, his propellers spinning. "Got it! I'm good!"

"Now redline it!" Blade ordered. "Push your engine!"

Dusty pushed, as hard and as fast as he could to get his speed up. The edge of the falls grew closer.

"Redline it!" Blade shouted. "You need more lift, redline it! Redline it!" I turned into my normal form and began to kick ant the log. Dusty's alarm began blaring.

"Why are you holding back?"

He only had a hundred feet left, not nearly enough time to increase power.

"Redline it!" I gave the log another kick and broke the bit holding the hoist. The moment Blade felt it slacken he shot off after Dusty. I took my wolf form and managed to creep over the logs onto the bank. I turned and watched in horror as Dusty suddenly went over the edge and disappeared. Then Blade threw the hoist and the cable tightened, indicating a catch. I took my normal form and bolted off towards Dusty and Blade. Thankfuly my wings had dried out enough to swoop down and lade near Dusty. Dusty was resting on solid ground, looking shaken but alive.

"Dusty!" I said as I moved closer to him. "Are you okay"

"I'm fine!" Dusty answered.

"Why didn't you redline it?!" Blade shouted as he hovered above us. "You could've made it! What were you thinking?" He paused, his attention drawn to something above us.

"What? What's wrong?" Dusty asked as we looked up. Blade rose higher into the air, seeing the treetops us already ablaze. Turns out that we have been swept into the fire.

"This ain't good." Blade said, mostly to himself. Blade took a look at our surroundings. "Head down that path. Follow me." Dusty obeyed and we followed Blade deeper into the forest. The fire was definitely getting close now and the heat was making me sweat.

"Champ, come on!" Blade called, lowering down to hover above an opening of a mine. "In here."

"An old mine?" Dusty gasped incredulously. "We can't go in there! We'll suffocate!"

"It's our only chance." Blade reasoned. "We'll let it burn over."

"No." Dusty protested, looking to Blade. "No, you go on. I'll keep moving. I watched Dusty begin to roll down the old railway tracks. I turned to follow and try to get him to go back.

"What are you doing? Hey. Hey!" Blade snapped, landing in Dusty's path. "You can't outrun the fire." Dusty glared at the chief.

"You know what? I'll find my way out." He stated before he started moving again.

"Like you found your way out of the rapids." Blade pointed out, his rotors still twirling and kicking up a little dust.

Dusty stopped again. "I didn't want to….push my engine…."

"You didn't want to?" Blade shouted.

"Cut it out both of you" I cried but they weren't listening to me.

"Blade, listen to me—" Dusty started.

"This isn't about you." Blade growled. "This about life and death. You need to follow orders. I told you 'split load,' you dropped it all. I told you not to reload on the lake, you did it anyway. I told you 'redline it,' you pulled power. You don't have what it takes! You don't!"

"Fine!" Dusty shouted, glaring fiercely as he turned to keep moving. "I never wanted to be a firefighter anyway!"

"Then go back to racing!" Blade snapped, and Dusty froze. "Go win yourself another trophy, Champ."

"I CAN'T!" Dusty screamed, spinning around to glare at Blade. His outburst made Nick and me jump. "My gearbox is busted! All right? That's why I pulled power. I'm never….I'm never gonna…" His anger dwindled away, and he slumped on his pontoons as he stared at the ground. I let out a sigh and let my head drop in defeat. Blade's glare didn't lessen, and if it did it wasn't noticeable. His rotors finally stopped spinning. Blade looked between Dusty and me. When he spoke, he sounded more understanding than angry.

"Life doesn't always go the way you expect it. But you, the both of you, you came here to become firefighters. If you give up today, think of all the lives you won't save tomorrow." He said. I lifted my head to stare at him.

"So what are you going to do?" Blade asked. Dusty looked up and turned and began rolling towards the mine. I followed Dusty in as he moved back as far as he could. Blade stopped outside the mine, turning to stare at the oncoming fire. The flames already engulfed the area they once occupied. As Blade came in debris began falling down behind him. I took on my wolf form and slunk underneath Dusty's wing so that there would be enough room for us. I watched as Blade positioned himself in front of us. The chief kept his eyes on the opening to the mine, where the fire raged. A cracking sound rang out, and a beam from the ceiling broke and fell down, scratching Dusty's number 7 racing decals. Dusty and I stared out at the opening to the mine. The fire was right on top of us now. Huge chunks of burning wood fell in front of the entrance, and suddenly a wave of fire shot straight towards them. Dusty shut his eyes, bracing himself for the burning sensation of the fire on his hide. Suddenly, Blade shot forward, putting himself between the flames and his trainees. I watched I horror as he grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, the flames brushing against his side and scorching the paint on his skin. The smell was quite unpleasant. Dusty, realizing he wasn't feeling any burning, opened his eyes and stared in shock to see he was fully encased in Blade's shadow. The larger aircraft gasped softly in pain, the heat and fire pressing against him. I could tell that he was in pain. I couldn't believe that he would sacrifice his life to save us. Blade forced his eyes open, trying to keep tabs on the fire. But a burning tower suddenly collapsed in front of the entrance and a wall of smoke and ash filled the cave. Then, it was dark.

Several minutes passed before the smoke and ash settled. Dusty's and Blade's lights flickered on, giving some light in the dark cave. A wall of debris completely covered the entrance to the mine, blocking them in. I could tell that Blade could feel agonizing pain radiating across his flank, but he was trying to ignore it.

"You two…..all right?" Blade gave a cough, despite his efforts to keep it back.

"Fine." Dusty breathed.

"I'm good" I said and coughed a little. My throat was sore and dry but I knew that Blade was worse off than me. "How long before it burns over?"

"It'll take a while." Blade admitted, wincing a bit. "We'll just have to wait"

"Okay" I said and carefully began to move over to the entrance of the cave. I as I walked in front of Blade I could see him watching me with a pained look in his eyes. When I looked at the entrance I could see the soft glows of a few embers. I looked at them before trying to stomp on one to get it to go out. That didn't work because my paws aren't as hard as my hooves and I burnt the pad a bit. I hiss a bit a yanked my paw away.

"Don't do than" Blade managed to rasp out.

"Belinda?" Dusty called softly, confused. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to put the embers out" I explained as I began tossing dirt out over the embers. "If that fire makes it in here, it'll suck all the oxygen out and then we really will suffocate. And I don't fancy that."

"Okay" Dusty said He as his eyes began fluttering shut.

"Stay awake." Blade ordered, his sharp tone forcing Dusty to open his eyes again and making me jump a bit. "Stay awake and you stay alive."

"You better stay alive." I said, popping my head around to look at Dusty. "If either one of you end up on the Wall, I talk Windlifter into going something horrible to your ghosts. You know how persuasive I can be."

"I thought you were smothering embers" chuckled Dusty.

"I was, until I heard that you were falling asleep" I said with a bit of a grin. "Any way there all covered up in there little soil beds." Dusty chuckled softly and Blade cracked a smile. I turned back around to face the entrance when something caught my eye. I looked over and my eyes widened at the sight of the huge, black-and-white coloured burn on Blade's side. It looked like it covered most of his flank but it was hard to tell in the light that we had. I looked into Blade's eyes only to receive a glare that meant 'Not one word'. I nodded in understanding knowing that Dusty might panic if he found out. I turned away and moved over towards the burn. I knew how to treat burns but we didn't have any water and my coat was dried out from the heat of the fire. I reached out a paw and gently placed it on the wound. I felt Blade flinch and shift slightly.

" _Good" I thought "He still has feeling in that area."_ I pulled my paw away and came back to the front of him. I glanced at Dusty before lying down in front of Blade. I glanced at Blade and he just stared back at me. What I hadn't known that Dusty had seen Blade flinch.

"Blade, are you okay?" Dusty asked, with concern in his blue eyes.

"I'm fine" Blade lied.

"No you're not" Dusty replied back but quickly shut up when Blade cast him a look. We sat there in silence for what felt like hours. Eventually Blade determined that we could finally leave. I moved away to stand next to Dusty. The lights went out, and Blade tensed up a bit before charging forward and ramming into the wall of debris before moving back ramming into the wall two more times. Light began to stream through into the cave. Blade backed up a bit, then grunted in effort and slammed his entire body weight into the wall. The debris gave way, allowing cleaner air to flow into the stuffy mine. Blade rolled out, coughing, with Dusty and I right behind him. We also coughed a little from the ash kicked up. All around us was burnt forest.

Dusty looked to Blade, and his eyes widened when he saw the full extent of the fire chief's burns. "Blade..."

"Airway Meadow should be clear." Blade's voice sounded hoarse and rough, and he coughed a few more times. "We'll take off from there."

Dusty had a look of concern, but we wordlessly followed Blade towards the meadow. Blade moved rather slowly, as though it caused him pain. It wouldn't surprise me at all but it seemed to take hours to get to the meadow. When we got there he told Dusty and me to take off. Nick was waiting for use in the air. As soon as we were in the sky Blade began to lift off. Suddenly, there was the sound of something clanking and popping in Blade's engine. I glanced back to see Blade suddenly began spinning in the air, his tail rotor completely useless. Blade fought to keep control, feeling is engine seizing, he smashed into the ground, involuntarily shouting in pain through gritted teeth. He skidded across the soil and ash before coming to a stop. The sound of the crash had been horrible.

"BLADE!" Dusty screamed, immediately banking around and circling the downed helicopter. "Blade!"

"Blade, no!" I gasped and flew back down with Nick close behind me. Once I had landed I could see the full extent of the damage. Three of his rotors had snapped in half and his retardant tank was torn clean off. There was a large section of his belly that was crumpled.

"Blade. Blade." I called to him "Answerer me please" I begged. Even Nick was trying to get a response from the wounded helicopter.

"Belinda…" Blade managed to rasp out, his eyes opening a little.

"Blade, don't worry" I said, hoping to keep him calm. "You're going to be alright." I turned and walked over to his wound, beckoning for Nick to follow. I could see the worry in his amber coloured eyes.

"Nick" I whispered, "I need you to sit as close as you can to Blade. The cool draft that you have should help to ease the pain." Nick nodded and pressed his form closer to Blade. Blade gasped softly at the sudden coolness and I turned around and headed back into Blade's line of view. He whimpered a bit and gazed up at me as I lay down. He suddenly coughed harshly, a little hydraulic fluid leaking from his mouth and ending up on the ground.

"Hang on Blade" I whispered laying my head on his nose "Don't give up yet." I heard movement and looked up to see that Dusty had landed.

"I told you to go back to base" Blade whispered as he shifted his gaze to Dusty.

"I never abandon my friends" Dusty whispered back. "Windlifter's on his way." Blade groaned before closing his eyes as his strength ebbed away.

"Blade" Dusty gasped and nudged the helicopter a bit. Blade gasped again before opening his eyes a little.

"Tell the Base….that I'm….sorry" Blade gasped out before slipping into unconsciousness.

"Blade, no" Dusty called as he nudged the helicopter. "Get up, please get up." I quickly got up and put my ear against Blade's flank. I could hear his ragged breathing and that meant that he was still alive but how long could he hold out for?

" _Please hurry Windlifter"_ I whispered.

-end chapter-

 **AN/ Sorry that this took a while to upload. We got a late rain and it tripped out my internet. It started 4/06/2016 and it is still drizzling. Any way, enjoy.**


	16. Chapter 16: Down

Not long after Blade passed out Dusty went back into the sky so that Windlifter would see him circling above us. Not long after Windlifter appeared in the sky. The Skycrane carried a rescue harness, lowering it down towards the ground, quickly bust carefully. The moment it was down I took my wolf form and grabbed the straps in my teeth, carefully looping them around Blade. Nick had moved out of the way while I was hooking Blade up but he still hang around.

"All right, we're good" I called up to Windlifter and moved out of the way as he lifted Blade into the air and started to head back to base. I turned back into a Pegasus and followed. Dusty flew alongside Windlifter, staring worriedly at Blade the entire way. Nick and I flew a little way behind hoping and praying that we make it on time. When the base finely came into sight, Dusty pulled ahead and landed first before joining the rest of the Air Attack team waiting for Blade to come in. As Windlifter flew closer I banked away and landed near the garage. I stayed out of the way while Windlifter set Blade down.

"Okay, that's good!" Maru called over the wind as Windlifter gently lowered Blade to the ground. "Slow…..slow…..careful…..good….." He waited until Blade's full weight was on his landing gear. "We're good!Pincone, get those straps off him! Avalanche! Push the ramp alongside the access panel and be careful!"

Dusty stared at the scene before he looked to Cabbie beside him. "He'll be okay, right?"

"It's bad." Cabbie admitted. "But, Maru, he's the best there is. He'll make him better than new." The moment Avalanche had the ramp up against Blade's access panel Maru went up and had a look at Blade's engine.

"He's hydraulics are completely fried. He's losing fluids. I gotta get him back to the garage, stat. Dynamite! Tow hook!" Maru barked out orders as fast as he could.

"Coming right up!" Dynamite called, driving off.

Maru closed the access panel, turning to Drip. "I'm gonna need hydraulic fluid from the shed."

"Copy that!" Drip hurried off.

"Blackout, we'll need another generator. Try the main hanger." Maru ordered.

"I got it!" Blackout sped away.

"And grab another heat lamp!" Maru called after him.

"Yes, boss!" Blackout called.

Maru began driving off towards the garage, talking mostly to himself now. "The surface burns are bad, but the interior damage is repairable. As long as we move quick, we got a good chance." As Blade was moved into the garage Maru glanced over to me.

"You got any experience with medical work?" he called to me.

"Yes, plenty" I answered with a determined look in my face.

"You're with me then" Maru answered without explaining much and I followed him into the garage. Once Blackout and Drip returned with the items Maru requested, he quickly shut the door of the garage. By the sounds outside I could tell that they were still there. Falco was sitting on a support beam. Nick was in a corner watching with worry in his warm amber eyes.

"First, we'll stop the leaks, then flush out the debris, and get fresh fluids." Maru said as he got to work, seeming to talk mostly to himself. "After that, I'll need help cleaning out the intakes. They're clogged with smoke and ash. Next we'll replace the melted parts and…" Maru's voice was full of worry and I could tell that the team couldn't lose Blade. Falco and I were parsing tools and equipment the Maru as fast as he rattled them off. I was fishing around in a box for another hose clamp when Maru froze.

"No…..no, no, no!" he started to say in panic. I pulled my nose out of the box to look at him.

"What's wrong?" I asked with concern in my eyes.

"He's not breathing." Maru growled, slamming a fork arm against Blade before resuming his work at a faster pace. "Ford damn you, Blade! Stay with me! Come on, stay with me!" I dropped what I was carrying and took on my wolf form. Maru paused when he heard the patter of paws as I charged up to Blade. Quick as the wind I was on my hind legs and had slammed my front paws into Blade. Before Maru could say a word the garage was filled with a bright light, so bright that Maru had to shield his eyes from the light. It only lasted about 10 seconds before it faded and I staggered back before collapsing onto my side, taking on my normal form. I looked up to see Dusty and Maru with Nick staring down at me. That was the last thing that I saw before slipping into unconscious.

\- _unconscious state_ -

 _I was standing in a forest. All around me was an emerald green. Suddenly I felt a presence behind me. Turning around I could see Nick sitting behind me._

" _Nick, what happened, am I dead?" I asked and Nick let out a chuckle and my skittish state._

" _No you're still alive" Nick assured "You passed out after saving Blade's life."_

" _Is he okay?" I asked. "Were are we?"_

" _He's fine" Nick assured "Right now were in your head."_

" _Oh" I said "But I don't remember a forest."_

" _It's just were your unconscious state took you" Nick explained "It's a lot like my one except it's yellow." I chuckled at that one._

" _I think that you mean that it's more golden that yellow" I said with a chuckle. Nick pondered about it for a second but then agreed with me. Looking around even the light was green in colour._

" _I wouldn't worry about anything if I were you" said Nick "You're quite safe"_

" _Oh okay" I replied as I relaxed "Though how can you get into my head?"_

" _Very simply" answered Nick with a smirk "I'm a ghost."_

" _I should have known that" I said as I mentally kicked myself. Suddenly I heard a noise and looking over I could see Dusty and me when we were younger. I moved over but it was like a glass plane and when I brushed my nose over it, it felt like glass._

" _It's just a memory" Nick said as he set himself beside me as more appeared._

" _Okay" I said "But how do I get out of here?" Nick thought for a sec before turning away and nodding to a light in the distance._

" _Follow the light and you will be back in the real world" Nick said._

" _Thankyou Nick" I thanked before galloping towards the light and back to the others._


	17. Chapter 17: The Inferno

When I came to I found myself still in Maru's garage with a pail of water near me. After a quick drink I looked around to find that Blade was no longer in the garage, so I guessed that he had been moved to his own hangar to rest. With a sight a got up and walked outside. I was still feeling a bit on the weak side but I would be fine by tomorrow morning.

"Oh, you're awake" Dusty said as he came up to greet me. "Do you feel okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" I said "How long was I out?"

"About two hours" answered Dusty with a smirk.

"Oh is that all? I thought that is was longer" I answered back with my own smirk. "Has Blade woken up yet?"

"No, he's out like a light" said Maru as he rolled up to Dusty and me. "Probably won't wake up for ages."

"Okay" I said with a nod.

"So how are you feeling?" asked Maru "And what was that you did a couple of hours ago?"

"I'm fine and what I did a couple of hours ago was a stabilizer power. It's something that I was born with" I answered "All Pegasus are born with three or four powers."

"You know a bit don't you?" Maru said with a chuckle.

"Yea, I should probably write a book about our kind, but if I did it would a you ages to read it and then years to understand it" I said jokingly.

"You are probably right" agreed Maru before turning to go "well I'm going back to work. See you later."

"Okay, night Maru: I called after him before turning back to Dusty. "I'm gonna turn in for the night. I'm tired."

"Okay, I'll see you later" Dusty said as he watched me lumber up to the hangar which we were using. I had only just settled down, with Nick watching my every move, when that annoying alarm went off.

"UGH, what now?" I grumbled as I got up and followed Nick outside.

. "Listen up, y'all, we got big trouble. Wildfire jumped the main exit road and now it's blocked." Patch said over the speakers.

"It just had to happen didn't it?" I asked no-one in particular "The universe hates me."

"You-re right" said Nick as he sort of answered my question.

"I know it's after sunset, but you're in command. It's your call." said Dipper to Windlifter.

"There's not much time!" Maru warned. "If you're gonna go, you better go now."

"And we'll need every plane we've got." Dusty added and I gave a half-hearted nod. Windlifter thought about it for a second.

"Load up" Windlifter ordered the team. In a split second everyone had leaped into action. Maru hooked up Dipper and the others to retardant hoses while the Smokejumpers loaded into Cabbie. Dusty gave a blink of surprise when he saw me standing there with a determined look in my eyes.

"Try and stop me" I said to Dusty before he could say anything. "A heard stiks together and so shall we."

"I'll never talk you out of this one" said Dusty with a smirk.

"We'll have you out of here in sixty—" Maru paused, jiggling the lever to the water before hurrying over to the gauges near the hoses, tapping one of them. "Problem! There's no water pressure!"

"Main line musta burst again!" Cabbie groaned.

"Hey Patch!" Dipper called up to Patch as Maru unhooked the hoses. "What's the lake look like?"

"Negative." Patch reported back to use "No visibility. Boxed in by fire and smoke."

Windlifter began taking off, his lights flicking on. "All we have left is what's in our tanks. Let's make it count." The rest of us followed in an orderly fashion as we also took off. Nick stayed behind at the base with Falco. The fire ahead of us was raging on and the glow seeming to light up the night.

"We're headed straight into the fire!" Dusty called. "Aren't we gonna fly around it?"

"The fastest way to the main road is through the fire!" Dipper protested.

"Brace yourselves!" Windlifter called as they disappeared into the smoke with Dusty. I took a pull at first before following them as well. The smoke was thick and it stung my eyes and burned my throat. Embers blew up into everyone's faces while the smoke clouded our vision. Chunks of flaming wood shot down and around us in all directions. We were all forced to weave our way through the smoke to avoid being hit with flying bits of wood. Once we had made out way through the worst of it I looked down to see that the whole valley was on fire. There was no way they we could stop a fire this big. We would need an army of firefighters to even start to contain it if that was even possible.

We had ended up flying right over the lodge which was not going up in flames. The answer to why it wasn't going up in flames was because a huge amount of water soaked the lodge from the roof sprinklers. I was quite surprised that they even hade water let alone that the sprinklers were putting out a huge amount of water. I didn't know much about that side of things so I put it in the back of my mind for now. We continued on and soon reached the main entrance in less than a minute. A long line of cars stood in front of the burning, destroyed gate, and Muir the train was blowing his whistle desperately.

Windlifter dumped his load of retardant first, snuffing out the flames of the destroyed gate. Dipper moved along the side of the cliff, extinguishing the fire threatening to come up over the ridge while Dusty moved in last, dropping retardant onto the burning tree and allowing Muir to push through the burnt wood to continue on. I had manager to land on the road as the Smokejumpers deployed from Cabbie. Going through what I was taught we hurriedly cleared a pathway for the rest of the campers. The moment that the road was cleared I back off and leapt into the air and watched as Ol' Jammer began encouraging the campers forward and out to safety. Soon the aircraft team and I were heading back to base. Everyone was tired, dirty and exhausted from going out at night. We had already broken a rule in the rule book but they seemed to be very proud about what they had done. So it was back to that base for us and hopefully to bed.

"Windlifter, do you copy?" Patch called hurriedly witch startled me a bit at first.

"Go ahead, Patch." Windlifter responded.

"We've got two old RVs trapped in Augerin Canyon." Patch reported.

"Two old RVs?, Oh no." Dusty understood and he pulled ahead to fly alongside Windlifter. "That's Harvey and Winnie! We met them earlier. They're looking for the place they had their first kiss." This night was just getting better and better.

"Augerin Canyon?" Windlifter said. "That's at the other end of the park."

"I can get there the fastest" Dusty said with a look of determination of his face.

"The canyon will be engulfed in flames and you have no retardant." Windlifter protested.

"I'll scoop off the river. There's a clear stretch of water." Dusty countered as Windlifter stared at him for a moment.

"It's now or never" I thought to myself.

"Windlifter, we can do it." Dusty assured with confidence on his face. 'We'? What did he mean by 'we'?

"Go. And be safe" Windlifter said after a long pause. "You follow him, Belinda"

I nodded, too tired to argue, as Dusty took off with me following him from behind. Dusty looked to his torque before concentrating on the job ahead of us. Dusty dived down and headed for the bridge. Winnie and Harvey were resting right in the middle, the area around them unburned for now, but the flames were fast approaching. They were shouting for help when they saw us fly over. Dusty circled once, with me in tow, before he turned, diving down to the river at the bottom of the canyon. I kept out of the way the best that I could. I watch carefully as Dusty lowered the scoops for his pontoons. He was getting lower and lower to the river and the rocks poking out of the water.

"Dusty look out" I shouted to Dusty as a flaming tree fell towards him. Dusty pulled up sharply, barely missing the flaming log, but when he went down to scoop, he had to jerk up again and his pontoons clipped another log in the river. He was not going to be able to load up with water if he had to keep dodging flaming logs and falling derbies. Dusty swerved again as flaming trees fell past him. He let out a bit of a yelp while doing a barrel roll to avoid the falling rocks. The rocks were breaking from the shear heat of the wildfire. He was just heading back towards us when we heard and almighty crack and a scream.

"Look out" I shouted as one of the metal supports gave away and fell into the canyon. The bridge had begun to collapse before stopping in its collapse. Poor Winnie was left half-hanging off the edge of the platform with Harvey keeping a tight grip on her wheel. Dusty and I both knew that the bridge was not going to stay standing for much longer. If we didn't get that fire out on the bridge soon, it will collapse completely, taking Harvey and Winnie with it. I flew down closer to them to try and help but the heat and updrafts were making it difficult to get close enough to help. Suddenly, the sound of helicopter blades could be heard over the crackling of the fire. Looking up Dusty and I could see a familiar, but still beat-up, AgustaWestland burst through the smoke. It was Blade coming to help. How he talked Maru into letting him off the ground had got me.

"It's Blade" I called out to Dusty as he flew towards us. We watched as Blade shot down the waterfall, not looking fazed by his still-healing injuries. He spun around and hovered in the air over the bridge, his hoist hatch opening. He threw the hook and cable, catching Winnie and holding her from the edge. I saw Blade grit his teeth a bit, using all his strength to stay hovering in the air, and flew forward to help support Winnie and Harvey. Blade glanced at me before his eyes looked to Dusty and he glared at them, like he always does. A silent message seemed to pass between the fire chief and Dusty because he in turn glared back at Blade. There was only one way to refill now.


	18. Chapter 18: The crash

I watched as Dusty shot off, ducking under the flaming bridge and then pulled up sharply, running parallel with the waterfall. Dusty lowered the scoops to his pontoons before dipping them into the rushing waterfall. His body seemed to shake from the water hitting him and filling his pontoons, but he stayed firm. Suddenly a noise filled the air.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

It was that blasted alarm. It was actually getting annoying. Dusty must of heard the noise but he didn't back of and he stood firm and kept going up the waterfall. Everything suddenly seemed to go in slow-motion as Dusty shot up, up, up, higher and higher and cleared the top of the falls. He vanished past the smoke and into the clear night sky. I stared up as Dusty fell back and looped down low, speeding right past Blade's hoist cable and me and dropped the water he had gathered across the flaming bridge. Blade tugged on the hoist while I pushed as we helped Harvey and Winnie up onto the bridge. I banked off and away as the two RVs sped off, making it into the stone tunnel just as the bridge collapsed behind them. It was a close call.

"Whoo, we did it" I cheered and did a bit of a loop. Even Dusty was grinning as he banked around us.

"Dusty, Belinda!" Blade called catching my attention and Dusty's attention as he flew by. I nearly fell out of the sky because Blade was actually smiling at the both of us. "Good move, partners."

Dusty and I smiled at that, feeling the pride well up inside of us. We had both acutely done it and rescued the lives of others, just like real firefighters. The best luck that we have had was that Dusty's gearbox was still working. But I had thought to soon because there suddenly came a sound from Dusty's engine.

SCREECH!

Dusty's propeller jerked to a halt and a horrible grinding sound coming from his engine and smoke streaming into his face. I froze in horror as I heard the alarm on Dusty go off. I could do nothing but watch as Dusty suddenly took a nosedive. He hit the trees, branches slapping repeatedly.

"NOOOOO!" I screamed as Dusty fully tumbled into the trees and out of sight. I barely even heard what Blade said as I bolted after Dusty. The light was terrible and because I couldn't find a place to land safely so I decided to try my luck with going through the trees. I went down as close as I could to the trees before taking on my wolf form and working my way down. Suddenly I misplaced my foothold and slipped. I went crashing down through the trees and towards the ground. I hit the ground with a loud thump and lay there for a second, panting and willing the pain from the fall to go away. Glancing up I saw Blade fly over. The AgustaWestland was looking for a place to land like I had done. I could see that he was carefully yet quickly lowing himself down to the forest floor. Dragging myself to my feet I limped my way over to Dusty, even though I could fell blood oozing down my coat.

"Dusty! Belinda!" I heard Blade shouting as he searched for us.

"Over here" I shouted back as I continued on my way over to Dusty. I watched as Blade came rolling out of the trees and his lights fell on poor Dusty and he seemed to wince sympathy. The poor racer was all battered up. There was not a straight spot on him and parts of him were damage beyond repair. I let out a wine as I limped up to Dusty and nosed him.

"Dusty?" Blade said as he gave Dusty a gentle nudge. At first I thought that he was out like a light before Dusty gave a pained moan, and he wearily blinked his eyes open.

"Blade?" he gasped out, his voice filled with pain. "Belinda."

"I'm here Dusty" I whispered as I lay down and rested my head on him.

"Hey Champ." Blade sighed in relief. "Just hang on. You'll be all right."

"Blade…please…tell the others …. I'm sorry." Dusty whispered as his eyes closed and he went still.

"Dusty wake up" I said and nudged him a little too hard. "Please wake up."

"Dusty? Champ, hey!" Blade said on the other side of Dusty as he gave the plane a few nudges, but Dusty didn't move. I pressed my ear up against Dusty's flank and sighed in relief when I heard that he was still breathing.

"He's still breathing" I told Blade and he in turn let out a sigh of relief. "We need help."

"Already ahead of you" Blade answered as he switched on his radio. "This is Blade to the base. Come in somebody." At first there was only static before Maru's angry voice came over the radio.

"Blade August Ranger, you stupid idiot" Maru yelled, making both Blade and me wince a bit. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? When I said 'stay put and let the others handle it,' that was not your cue to take off when my back was turned!"

"Maru." Blade said as he tried to get a word in edge wise.

"I swear, if you crashed while you were out there, I'm not even gonna help you this time! I'm gonna-" Whatever Maru was going to say next I would never know because Blade managed to cut him off.

"Maru!" Blade shouted "I didn't crash. Dusty did. And Belinda is also wounded." I flicked an ear at that last bit. I'd been hurt a lot worse that what I was now but I stayed silent.

Silence.

"What?" Maru's voice was only a whisper. It was so quiet that we only just caught what he said.

"They saved the lives of two campers, but then Dusty's gearbox failed and he crashed." Blade explained hurriedly. "Dusty's hurt really badly, Maru. You gotta get Windlifter out here ASAP."

"He won't be able to find you right now. Dusty will just have to hang on. I'll send him out as soon as it is light enough to see" answered Maru.

" Maru, Dusty may not have that much time!" Blade argued back.

"Blade listen" Maru said to Blade. "If anything goes wrong you still have Belinda there to prevent anything drastic happening. I don't fully understand it myself but you're going to have to trust her." I saw Blade glance over to me where I was lying, listening to Dusty's faint but regard breathing. He seemed a bit frustrated about what was happening.

"All right" Blade agreed with a nod. "But at first light, you get Windlifter out here."

"Copy that" Maru answered before he tuned out. Blade let out another sigh before turning to me.

"I afraid that well have to wait" Blade finely said to me as he settled down a bit.

"I know" I answered as I lay my head back down a closed my eyes half way. I was tired and sore but I was not going to rest until Dusty and Blade were both safely back at the base.

"How badly hurt are you?" asked Blade after a bit. He couldn't see very well in the light that we had to see by.

"Bruising, scrapes, scratches, a few burns and some larger cuts" I answered with a bit of a grunt. "I think I've torn the muscles in my front left shoulder and leg."

"That's not good" answered Blade with a bit of a stern look. "Maru will have a field day fixing you up."

"He can do me after he's done Dusty" I said with a stern look. "I can look after my own injuries very easily once we are out of here."

"Maru won't let you go that easily" said Blade with a hint of amusement in his voice. I let out a grunt before we fell silent again. I watch through half closed eyes as Blade looked into the distance, where the fire still raged. We had to hope and pray that the wind wouldn't change direction and come towards us. We sat there for a while before I suddenly sat bolt upright, startling Blade in the process.

"He's stopped breathing" I suddenly said.

"What?" gasped Blade in shock at what I had just told him.

"Shield your eyes" I barked immediately as I slammed my paws into Dusty's flank. Suddenly a bright flash lit up were we were for a few seconds before everything went dark again. I staggered back before collapsing onto the ground. I looked up to see Blade standing over me.

"Belinda?" he said as he nudged me a bit. I was still conscious but I was too weak to respond. I had pushed myself over the edge to save Dusty's life but it had cost me a lot of energy. I heard Blade sigh again. He must have thought that I was unconscious like Dusty. I could tell that he was now feeling all alone on a dark night with a wildfire and two wounded teammates.

"Don't give up" Blade whispered to me as he turned his gaze back towards the fire. Minutes passed and then hours. Suddenly we heard the unmistakable sound of thunder in the sky. I felt relived and hoped that the rain would put out the fire. Blade on the other hand seemed more worried.

"Oh great" I heard him groan "Don't let there be any mudslides." If I was stronger I would have spoken to him but alas I was still too weak. Then, the rain began coming down. It was nice and cool as it washed over Dusty and Blade and me. It droplets cleaned my cuts a bit and started to soak my fur. It felt so good at first until it started bucketing down out of the sky. I heard Blade shifting beside me and he managed to position himself over me to stop me from getting any wetter. Thank goodness that I was still in my wolf form. Listening hard I could still hear Dusty's breathing. He would be stable for a long time now and he should be fine tile tomorrow.

Thank goodness that after a few minutes the rain faded to nothing. It had gone as quickly as it had come. The fire was now a lot of smoke as the rain had won the battle. At least we didn't have to worry about the fire coming any closer. Suddenly I saw Nick watching from a distance. I could tell from his look that he had only just turned up. Blade shifted himself off of me and a rolled a little way off. He was staring of into the distance in the direction of were the sun would soon rise, hopefully. He turned and started to come back towards Dusty and we when we suddenly heard a voice. I knew that I was Nick doing his best to comfort Blade without scaring him too much. Blade and looked around at our surroundings. Suddenly the voice came again.

Have hope

"If someone is out there trying to mess with my head, I swear I'm gonna tear you in half!" Blade shouted out into the night. I saw Nick smile at that because he knew that Blade didn't know that he was there. The voice came again.

Have hope.

"I will" he answered back and Nick ceased speaking and smiled before vanishing into the night. Blade settled down by me to wait for dawn to approach. I was going to be a long wait but we knew that when it came rescue would come as well.

* * *

A/N: Here is another chapter. I must thank Sandrastar1 for his/her support.


	19. Chapter 19: Day one, Rescued

I never slept that night and neither did Blade. Dawn had come at last and as the sky grew brighter as the sun came up more. Suddenly we heard the familiar sound of powerful rotors and the calls from two of his Smokejumpers. Windlifter had finally arrived with the rescue harness with Pinecone and Dynamite hurriedly approaching. They both looked horrified to see the state of use but when Windlifter gave ab order Pinecone began strapping Dusty into the harness while Dynamite was taking a look at me.

"How is she?" I heard Dynamite ask Blade.

"Not sure exactly" answered Blade "She did this weird thing and then collapsed. Hadn't moved since."

"She must have done that stabilizer thing she told us about" said Dynamite "She should be okay though but very weak for a while. How are we doing to get her back?"

"I'll take her back in my hoist hatch" Blade answered and I felt myself being lifted up and placed into his hatch. Soon I heard Blade taking of and joining Windlifter in the sky. Blade and Windlifter moved as fast as they could, careful to keep their cargo steady. I was feeling tired but forced myself to stay awake till Dusty was safely back to base. Blade seemed to let Windlifter set the pace as not to cause any more damage. When we finally reached the base, Blade let Windlifter go first as he gently lowered Dusty onto the runway. The rest of the Air Attack team gathered to watch, staring in shock and concern at the state of their SEAT. Maru hurriedly had Dusty taken to the garage. When Blade landed he rolled over to Maru.

"He's stable" answered Maru when he heard Blade enter the garage.

"Okay but what about Belinda?" asked Blade as Maru glanced at him before lifting me out of Blade's hoist hatch.

"I'll clean her up the best that I can at the moment but when you go to your hangar can you take her with you. Just to keep a close eye on her." Maru said to Blade who nodded. I sighed a bit as I felt unconscious taking over once more.

'At least Dusty was safe' I thought as everything went black.

 _I was running over a green meadow. The wind whistling through my mane and tail as I galloped over the plain. I had no idea where I was. Looked ahead to see something in the distance. I was the members of my herd that had died. I slowed down ad stopped to think .If they were here than I must be dead. But I couldn't be dead._

" _You can see them can't you?" asked a voice. I jumped and looking around I could see Nick sitting there beside me watching them play around in a world with no pain._

" _Yes" I answered. It was still too much to take in. "So this is the afterlife?"_

" _A bit" answered Nick "But you're not dead yet."_

" _I'm not?" I asked in confusion._

" _You have a bit of a choice. Stay here and join your old herd or go back and be with your friends" explained Nick with a smile. "It's up to you."_

" _It's a difficult choice" I said with a shake of my head. "If I went with my old herd I could be happy but then I won't have my friends. I can't imagine what would happen to Dusty if I died. We-re kind of family."_

" _So you want to go back?" asked Nick._

" _Yes" I answered. "Back to be with my friends."_

" _You see those two hills over there?" asked Nick as we turned towards them. "Run towards them and straight between them. You will then be home."_

" _Thanks Nick" I smiled before I took off and back home._

I woke up in an unfamiliar place, lying on a woollen blanket. I let out a groan as I opened my eyes. My vision swarmed for a bit before clearing up. Hearing movement I looked up to see Blade come into my line of sight. That's when it occurred to me that I was in his hangar.

"Belinda, how do you feel?" asked Blade as he looked at me with as oft expression.

"Thirsty" I managed to rasp out before Blade nodded, turned and I heard him rummaging about. He soon reappeared with a bowl of water and set in front of me. I lifted my head and drank gratefully out of the bowl.

"Thanks" I said once I had finished having a drink.

"That's okay" Blade answered with a nod. "Do you feel better?"

"Apart from a throbbing in my flanks I'm fine" I answered. It was clear that Maru had washed my wounds the best that he could. "What about Dusty?"

"Maru's working on him" answered Blade. "It'll be a while before he wakes up."

"Oh" I said before falling silent again for a while. "How long was I out? I remember being brought back to base but after that my minds blank."

"You were awake?" Blade asked a bit surprised at that because I didn't respond to them. "Then why didn't you respond to us?"

"I was too tired and weak to even move." I answered back with a sigh. I picked my ears up when I heard a squawk. It was Falco my falcon. He hopped down onto the floor and walked up to me and looked me in the eye.

"Squawk" said Falco.

"Hey little buddy" I said and gave him a little nuzzle. "You miss me?"

"Squawk" screeched Falco before he started to scold me. I gave him a board look at his scolding.

"Yes, yes Falco, I get it" I said to the bird and he imminently shut up. Blade and I watched as Falco turned around and marched outside the hangar to sulk.

"Funny bird" said Blade to me and I hummed I agreement. "Well I'll go and let Maru know that you're awake." And with that Blade turned and started to exit the hangar.

"Okay, I'll come too" I said and managed to get up off of the blanket. Blade paused and turned around.

"You shouldn't be moving around" said Blade in concern. "You'll hurt yourself even more."

"I'll be fine" I answered back. "I know how to balance my weight so that I don't hurt myself." And with that I started to limp outside. Blade stared at me for a bit and then followed. Together we slowly made our way down to the garage. It was very quit as most of the base had gone off to catch up on some sleep. Dipper on the other hand was staring at Maru as he worked on Dusty. I let out a bit of a wine at the sight of Dusty.

"How's it going Maru?" asked Blade as he gave the situation a once over.

"It's going really slow" answered Maru without looking up from his work.

"I see" answered Blade "Belinda's up and about now."

"Oh, that's good" said Maru "I got Patch to call the lodge and send up a vet." At the word vet I tensed up and but my ears back. Blade noticed my sudden change in behaviour and turned to me.

"What's wrong" asked Blade casting me a confused look.

"I don't like vets" I stated imminently before Maru said that if we were going to chit chat we could do it somewhere else.

"Why not?" asked Blade as we made our way to the main hangar.

"I've had a very bad experience with vets and I haven't liked them since" I answered as we walked inside the main hangar. Windlifter was parked in one corner doing nothing. He looked up when he heard us enter.

"Hi Windlifter" I greeted before steeling down to rest my legs.

"I see that you're up and about again" said Windlifter with a nod. "What was that you were saying about vets?"

"I was just telling Blade here that I don't like vets" I answered.

"And why?" continued Windlifter.

"Okay I tell" I said with a sigh. "Most of my dislike of vets comes from a parallel world to this one. All vets do is poke and prod you. The worst thing is that they like to stick you with long, sharp pointy things not to mention that they always seem to smell of antiseptic. I'd rather die than go near a vet." I let out a huff at the last bit. Blade and Windlifter gave me a look of boardroom, or at least I think that it was boardroom.

"It's a wonder how you even survive" said Blade "Maru noticed a lot of old scares on your flanks, most of them too faint to notice."

"Oh them, mostly from fights or something" I said to them. "The more noticeable ones happened a couple of years ago."

"Do I dare ask how?" asked Blade not know what to think.

"Some other planes tried to gang up on Dusty. I heard a fight start out and out of natural instanced attacked them. Only problem was that I didn't move out of the way of one of the propellers and my shoulder got cut up." I answered with a grunt. "Dottie's always lecturing me about keeping out of fights but I don't always listen."

"You're crazy" said Blade with a slight look of amusement.

"Well when I was a little foal I was told that everything has a fight or flee instinct. I listen to my fight one more often out of the two." I answered with a slight laugh. "Even you have a fight or flee instinct. It's a part of us." I hear Blade chuckle at that one before looking up when someone knocked on the hangar. There in the doorway stood a two-legger: the vet.

"Hi, am I interrupting something?" asked the two-legger. She had black hair and was around the average height of a female two-legger. She somehow smelt familiar at the same time.

"No" answered Blade "You-re the vet aren't you?"

"Yes, My names Mimiral Lilack. I was called up from down at the lodge to have a look at a wolf" she said as she gestured to me.

"Yes, it's Belinda" Blade said as he nodded to me. "She's right-hey!" Blade let out a surprised yelp as I had just crawled under him to hide from the vet.

"Okay" Mimiral said as she looked at where I had gone. "Belinda, you live at Propwash don't you?"

"So what if I do" I answered bluntly without coming out from under Blade.

"Don't you remember me." Mimiral asked "I pull you out of that fence that you got stuck in at Propwash. Remember?" I thought about I and it suddenly dawned on me that I knew her. I answered the question by coming out from under Blade and approaching her.

"I remember you now" I answered.

"Well I had better fix you up" said Mimiral, and with that she put me up on a bench and set to work.

"What did you do to yourself?" asked Mimiral as she worked.

"Fell out of a tree in the dark last night. It's a long story" I answered and began to tell her what happened the previous night. Once she had finished Mimiral said goodbye and wished me luck. Yes we needed luck on our side now.


	20. Chapter 20: Day 2 TMST

That night I watch as I saw Blade come out from where Maru had his kitchen. I was lying out in front of the hangar were Maru was still working on Dusty. Dipper still hadn't moved and she looked as though the world had suddenly turned black and white.

"You okay, Belinda?" Blade asked as he suddenly appeared in front of me making me jump.

"I'm fine" I answered as I turned to face him. Blade looked at Dusty before turning back to me.

"I didn't see you at dinner" he said.

"Wasn't hungry" I mumbled before yawing. It was getting late and we were all tired.

"Hmm" Blade hummed before turning to head up to his hangar. "Why don't you come and get some sleep. Maru still says that I have to keep an eye on you." Blade smirked a bit.

"Oh okay" I answered as I limped after him. As we made our way up the Blade's hangar I caught a glimpse of Nick. He was sitting out on Blade's cliff top as I have dubbed it. Blade entered the hangar first before turning around to make sure that I had followed him. I walked inside and went and lay down on the blankets that I was on earlier yawning as I did so. I was so tired that my eye lids kept drooping lower and lower.

"Night Belinda" said Blade from where he had settled down.

"Night Blade" I answered before sleep overcame me.

* * *

When I had woken up the next morning I saw that Blade was already awake. Well he seemed to be dozing more than awake.

"Morning Blade" I said as I sat up, stretched and yawned, showing all of my teeth in the process.

"Morning Belinda" answered Blade greeted with a smirk. "Finely decided to wake up?"

"What do you mean?" I asked with a confused look "And what's the time?"

"Nine thirty am" answered Blade with a smirk. "You slept like a log all night. Didn't even stir when I radioed up your friends at Propwash."

"Oh, how did they handle the news?" I asked in concern.

"They are fairly down with it and Dusty still hasn't woken up yet" answered Blade before there was a knock on his hangar door. Turning to face it we were greeted by Dynamite.

"Morning you two" greeted Dynamite before turning to Blade. "Patch has just been informed about a TMST agent coming up to the base"

"Thanks" Blade said before a noise caught their attention. I was now standing there in my normal form.

"Wanna know what we call them at Propwash?" I asked with a smirk.

"What?" asked Dynamite.

"This Means Serious Trouble" I answered with a grin at their confused looks. "Get it? TMST. This Means Serious Trouble." I watched as they smirked at me.

"Good one" said Blade with a chuckle.

"Just tell them that I said that. They might not like it" I chuckled before following them outside. I sort-of left Blade and Dynamite behind as I went down to check on Dusty. Maru was still working on him so I left to go and graze by myself on the edge of the runway.

"Morning Belinda" Nick said as he appeared in front of me like magic.

"Moring Nick" I answered with a grin as I looked up.

"Feeling better?"

"Yhea, I'm fine. Just a bit sore."

"I hope that Dusty wakes up soon" Nick said as I took another mouthful of grass.

"Me too" I nodded. I was starting to feel lonely now that Dusty was still out like a light. I missed seeing his cheerful face about.

"You heard about the TMST agent coming up yet?" asked Nick.

"You mean the 'This Means Serious Trouble' agent" I said and Nick cracked up at that one.

"That's a good one" he said between chuckles. "Never thought of that before."

"So what will he want to know about the fire?" I asked.

"A report. Causalities and probably a full report on your injuries" Nick answered before staring out behind me. "Speaking of witch" He motioned for me to turn around. I turned around and saw a very familiar TMST agent and forklift enter the base.

"YOU!" I half shouted half growled. That caught the attention of everyone in the base. Even Maru paused in his work to see what was going on. I couldn't believe it. It was the same TMST agent that had shut down Propwash. I was glaring daggers at him and he just glared back at me. Nick looked between me and the TMST agent in conferment.

"You know him?" he asked with a baffled look on his face.

"Yeah, he's the one that shut down Propwash" I answered without tacking my eyes off him.

"Hello" said the TMST agent as Blade came up to him. "Chief Ranger, I assume."

"Affirmative." Blade nodded. Meanwhile I was working my way over to stand beside Blade. I was so looking forward to having and argument. I was good at getting into arguments and winning them.

"I am Ryker of the Transportation Management Safety Team." The agent introduced. "I am here to discuss a pair of incidents that occurred two days ago."

"Fine" Blade said. It seemed as though he wanted to get that done and over with as fast as possible.

"Your crash occurred first. Explain what happened." Ryker ordered.

"Two of my teammates and I were fighting a forest fire." Blade answered. "We ran into some complications and I helped them out." Ryker's eyes looked to the burn on Blade's side. It was still large but healing nicely. Them Ryker turned his attention to me. It not like I don't like attention but this was not the kind that I wanted.

"And you are?" Ryker asked while his little assistant scribbled away on his clipboard. I would hate to read his writing.

"Belinda" I answered gruffly. I was not really in the mood for chit chat.

"Could you give me the details of the incident?" Ryker said. I flattened my ears a bit.

"We were trying to keep the fire away from the pile of kindling that you call a lodge and Dusty tried to reload on the lake but ended you in it, knocking me into the water by accident. We got washed down the river. I managed to get myself out while Blade helped Dusty. And before you ask I was not injured in the fire" I explained without lessening my glare.

Ryker looked to Blade or more to the burn on his flank. "Then how did such injuries occur?"

"I was protecting them" Blade answered bluntly. I saw Nick giving a nod of approval from behind Ryker even though Blade couldn't see him.

"Where is Mr. Crophopper so we may discuss the second incident?" Ryker asked. Oh he was relly pushing it now.

"Currently being repaired." Blade replied simply casting my a glance before turning his attention back to Ryker.

"Details on his and Belinda's crash?" Ryker requested.

"We were trying to save two campers that were trapped on a bridge. Dusty was forced to refill on the water fall. After he had dropped his load his damaged gearbox gave up and he crashed. When he went down I tried to follow down through the trees as a wolf. A branch broke and I fell down through the tree." I answered without softening my gaze.

"How did Mr. Crophopper's gearbox become damaged?" Ryker asked making me more irritated.

"It previously had damage from stress in racing and it prevented him from going to max torque." I answered.

"You allowed him to go out with damage to a critical component of his flying mechanisms?" Ryker said to Blade sternly.

"I did" answered Blade with a stern look.

"Exactly why was such an action necessary?" Ryker demanded. That was the last straw. My patients snapped.

"It was necessary to save lives." I snapped at Ryker catch his and possible everyone else's. "If we didn't go out there at night hundreds of lives would have perished."

"Why didn't you fill up before you left?" Ryker asked even though he was losing his patients

"We couldn't fill up before we left. We had to go out with what was left in the aircrafts' tanks because of a burst in the water line. And we still don't have any water pressure." I growled.

"There was no break" said Ryker.

"Well then you tell us how the lodge had … water … and… we…don't" I said as I trailed off, remembering the gushing water on the lodge, my expression going blank in thought.

"The lodge and the base run on the same line" answered Ryker.

"Cripshy" I cursed as it dawned on me.

"What?" Blade asked, sounding almost worried now.

"Cad messed with the water line." I answered, shocking everyone. "That's why the sprinklers were gushing out so much water. There's no way they could be so powerful without the extra boost. He must've switched the water to the roof sprinklers to kick up the power. As we flew over we never gave it a second thought."

"WHAT?" Blade growled. His look quickly turned to pure hatred for what had happened. Dusty had nearly died because of Cad. "Were are you going?" he asked when he saw me storming towards the road that lead down to the lodge. Falco was circling above me.

"I'm going down to that stupid lodge find Cad and beat him into the ground" I growled before Ryker put himself between me and the path. "Get out of my way or so help me that I don't do the same to you."

"You are injured." Ryker said, not being fazed by my threat.

"Don't care" I growl as I turn to go around him.

"You are injured and healing." Ryker said. "Stay up here till you are healed. Both of you. Have your medic forward the reports later."

"Okay" Blade nodded before Ryker left the base. Blade and I stood side by side as we watched him leave.

"I think that you have impressed him" said Blade as he turned to me.

"Yup" I said nodding.

"Were you really going to beat Cad into the ground?" asked Blade.

"You bet you rotors on that" I answered before walking off.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally done. I hope that you have enjoyed it. Next chapter is Day three and Cad is in so much trouble.**


	21. Chapter 21: Day Three: Operation Scarify

Day three came by and Dusty still hadn't woken up. I was starting to pine for him. Blade was the first to notice when I refused breakfast and instead sat outside all on my own staring into the distance. I would have sat there all day except that Maru wanted to check Blade's and my wounds.

"Sit still Belinda" complained Maru as I wriggled again. He was trying to make sure that I hadn't gotten any infections.

"I'm fine Maru" I grumbled in annoyance. He finally finished and let me go.

"Okay your turn Blade" Maru said as he turned to poor Blade. Nick snickered when Maru made Blade sit still while he sanded and repainted his left flank. Blade looked very relived once Maru was finished with him. Once Maru was done he went back to work on Dusty.

"Don't worry Belinda" said Blade to we. "Maru will make him better than new."

"I know Blade" I answered. "It's just that I'm starting to miss seeing his cheerful face. I don't know what I'll do if I lost him."

"You two share quite a bond" said Blade with a nod. "Like I said 'don't worry' Dusty will pull through this. You'll see." I turn and gave Blade a warming smile. Even though I had only known him for a few weeks I was starting to see the other side of Blade. Even though he was stern on the outside he really had a soft spot on the inside.

"Thanks Blade. It means a lot to me" I said with a smile. I couldn't help but laugh when Falco decided to land on top of Blade's rotor assembly, almost making him jump out of his paint job. Nick was laughing at Blade's astonished face from where he was sitting with Windlifter.

"He like you" I said once I had stopped laughing while Falco bobbed his head up and down.

"I guess" chuckled Blade before the quiet of the base was shattered by a voice shouting.

"BLADE!" Whipping around we both saw Cad entering that base. Blade growled in irritation before going off to meet him down on the runway, Falco flying off his rotors and onto a hangar roof. Both Blade and Cad were glaring at each other.

"What do you want?" Blade growled. He was clearly annoyed and I was also starting to get agitated already.

"You got a lot of nerve, Ranger." Cad growled. "What lies did you tell that stupid TMST agent and the Secretary of the Interior, huh?" I couldn't believe it. Lies? Oh Cad was so going to get it.

"Lies?" Blade scoffed "What about you messing with the water line. Do you know that the entire park could have burnt down."

"If you had been doing your jobs right the fire wouldn't have gotten so bad!" Cad shouted back at Blade. That was the last straw I thought as I started to walk over to Blade.

""Do you have any idea what you did?" Blade countered in anger.

"I did your jobs" Cad huffed. "Been the hero and saved the lodge."

"You haven't been anything" I shouted as I came up beside Blade. "You don't even know what the word means? A true hero is willing to lay down their life for others."

"Keep out of this" Cad snapped at me. "I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Blade, now buzz off."

BAM!

"OUCH!" Cad rolled back blinking to clear his vision. A dent was in his right side from where I had suddenly kicked him. Walking up I glared a Cad out of pure anger.

"Now you listen here." I growled as Cad tried not to look scared. "I don't give a dame for your pile of kindling but don't you dare say that to me or anyone clear." I subconsciously didn't realise that my coat was starting to change but the rest of the crew did.

"Like I said 'stay out of it'" Cad tried to counter my attack. "It's the chief's fault that the park nearly burnt down." That was it. My anger snapped and I lunched forward at Cad, my wings, main and tail turning to flames. My coat had gone from its lovely patched patterns to black and my hooves had gone read hot. Cad was frozen to the ground or he seemed to be.

"Now listen closely" I growled while my eyes flashed red. "If the wasn't any laws against killing you then I would tear you apart and feed you to the birds of the air. You would beg for mercy but I would be deaf to the word. I will have no mercy for you. Now GET of the this base before I TEAR YOU APART ." I watched as Cad suddenly shot backwards away from me before pausing. I took a step forward and that caused Cad to panic.

"DEMON HORSE, DEMON HORSE" screamed Cad as he turned around and bolted going even faster when I reared you letting out a triumphant scream before dropping back onto all fours, my coat going back to normal. I shook my head and turned around to see the entire base in stunned silence, while the male smokejumpers had their jaws dropped.

"Sorry about that" I said, grinning sheepishly, snapping them out of their stunned state. "Couldn't help myself."

"You kidding?" Blade laughed. "I didn't even see that coming."

"How did you suddenly flame up like that?" asked Blackout.

"Don't know exactly." I answered.

"It was so cool." Drip said excitedly.

"You had him on the run" chuckled Nick to me.

"SCARY!" Avalanche agreed.

"I don't think that we will see him again" chuffed Cabbie.

"Good riddance." Blade huffed. I chuckled before smirking.

"Do you think that anyone would believe him?" I asked before we all laughed again.

* * *

A/N: sorry that this took so long. I was very busy with other things and i kept forgetting to put it up. Well enjoy.


	22. Chapter 22: Day 4 and 5

Day four was another low day. Blade sighed as he rolled down to the garage to see how Maru was getting on with repairing Dusty. Looking inside he could see the said tug working on something on the bench.

"How's it going Maru?" asked Blade as he looked over to where Dusty was still unconscious. He looked so…peaceful, just sitting there.

"It's taking a while but I'm getting there." Maru called behind him as he continued to work on the object in front of him. "He's still hasn't responded to anything. I'm currently working on his gearbox."

"Do you think you can fix it?" asked Blade in concern. Of course he didn't doubt Maru, it's just that some things just can't be mended.

"Don't start on him not flying again" growled Maru. "I'll make him fly again, if it's the last thing that I ever do." Blade couldn't help but smirk. Maru could be very determined when it came to fixing things, no matter what it was.

"Hmmm" hummed Blade as he looked around again. "Haven't seen Belinda around have you by any chance."

"She was in here early this morning" admitted Maru as he turned around to face Blade. "She sat in front of Dusty about an hour, talking to him. A lot of it seemed to be about what they did together in the past. After that she left and headed for the cliff." Blade snapped round to stare and the smaller tug.

"You don't mean that she has gone to jump off a cliff do you?" Blade demanded, looking shocked and stunned at the same time.

"I wouldn't think so. You know that she isn't that stupid" countered Maru. "She seems to know that Dusty will pull through, and that's why see keeps coming back to talk to him."

"Thank goodness" sighed Blade in relief. He had grown to like both her and Dusty, even though she seemed to have a habit of talking to the wind.

"Look, I have to get back to work" stated Maru as he turned and went back to work. "Why don't you go and talk to Belinda? Never seen someone look so down in the dumps."

"Sure thing Maru" answered Blade as he turned and left Maru to his work. Once outside he scanned the base, looking for the chestnut and white Pegasus. Looking out across the runway he saw the said Pegasus sitting out at the far end, near the cliff. Sighing heavily he turned and taxied towards her. It wouldn't hurt to talk to her. Right?

Meanwhile I was sitting out on the cliff, looking out over the park. In the distance I could see the burnt area. It ran through the park, like a giant scar on the land. I was no longer my perky self. Instead of walking with my head held high and my wings tucked up, I walked with my head bowed and my wings drooping, almost touching the ground. I don't know what I would do if I lost Dusty as well. I've already lost my herd and didn't want to lose it again. Sure I still had the others but it's not worth living if Dusty was gone.

"Hey, Belinda" called a voice and I literally jumped three feet in the air. Wiping around, I turned to face my attacker, only to find Blade sitting here watching me.

"OH, Blade" I said as I recovered from my scare. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Wasn't trying to sneak up on you" answered Blade with a smirk and my stunned face.

"Alright, I'm losing my touch" I said with a nod before I continued to stare out across the park. Blade sighed to himself before parking beside me. After sitting in silence for a while Blade decided to break it.

"You'll probably think that this is a dumb question but are you okay?" asked Blade, awkwardly. When I looked at him, he mentally kicked himself for asking the question.

"Yes and no" I answered and he blinked in surprise. It's either your fine or you're not. "It's the same"

"What's the same?" asked Blade who was getting confused now. What could be the same?

"Twenty years ago, when I was living in a parallel world to this one, we had another bushfire go through in Australia during the summer time" I started before Blade cut me off.

"So. That happens all the time. It's a fact of life."

"Let me finish" I countered. "It was the second fire that I had been in at the time. We were fleeing it again but the wind wasn't with us that day. It kept changing direction and it stayed on our tails the entire time. The herd were starting to tire but then up ahead we could see the river. It didn't have very much water in it but at least we could cross and be safe on the other side for a while. The fire had already reached the river and was burning the trees on the same side that we were on. Making a break for it we shot through the flaming trees and down into the riverbed, then up the other side. We were all just about across when there was a cracking sound overhead. A giant branch broke off of one of the trees and crashed down onto my cousin, Lilac, who had just jumped into the riverbed. The branch broke her back, ribs and both front legs. She was still alive and together some of the older Pegasus's managed to get her up on the bank. The healers tried everything to save her but it was already too late. Lilac never woke up again and by morning she was dead." Tears were flowing freely by the time I had finished telling Blade why this was the same to what was happening now. If I lost Dusty it would be the end of me.

"I see" said Blade as he nuzzled me, "But that's not your fault and neither is this."

"I know that it's just that I don't know what to do any more" I answered as I stood up "I can already see my herd falling apart again. Never mind, I'm going off to graze for a while."

"Okay" Blade said with a smile. "You go eat, I'll see you around later." I gave Blade a quick nuzzle before walking off. I wasn't eating much anymore but I was still nibbling a little grass.

Day four passed and day five came around. Nothing happened again that day but the Secretary of the Interior showed up and was talking to Blade about something or other but I could soon pick out what they were saying.

"Yeah, I heard that Cad came up here and got into an argument" the Secretary said to Blade.

"He came up here looking for a fight and left liked the- um- I really don't know how to describe it" admitted Blade.

"And let like the whimpering dog that he is" I finished as I came up to stand next to Blade. "That's just putting it mildly."

"Okay. You're the 'demon horse' that Cad was rambling on about aren't you?" asked the Secretary looking at me with curiosity.

"Yeah, you could say that" I agreed "Blade was ready to turn Cad into scrap metal before I intervened. Actually, I think everyone wanted to."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did" he Secretary nodded "But you won't see him again for a long time."

"Good riddance" noted Blade "Were did he go?"

"Well he didn't go to jail I'm afraid." The Secretary sighed and them he caught our looks of disapproval. "I'm not happy about it either but-"

"If he's not going to jail can we drop him off a cliff and see how well he flies?" I asked hopefully with a gleam in my eye. "What?" I questioned after seeing the looks that they were giving me. "He said that he did our jobs so how about we get him to do it all of the time?"

"Should I be worried about how she thinks?" asked the Secretary to Blade after a slight pause. Blade looked at me and then back to him.

"Not sure actuary" admitted Blade then to me "Should I?"

"Depends if you're friend or foe" was my answer "And Cad is defiantly not friend."

"Well it's a good thing that he's now in Death Valley National Park" said the Secretary with a slight smirk. "He won't be bothering you again."

"I suppose that it'll do" sighed Blade. It was obvious that he was hoping that Cad had got a harder punishment.

"Wait, you sent him to Death Valley?" I asked in amazement "As in the hottest, driest place on earth death valley?"

"Same one, why" asked the Secretary with a confused look. A slow grin spread over my face.

"That's even better than dropping him off a cliff" I laughed "Instead he'll be roasting in the heat and hot sun."

"She is a funny one" murmured the Secretary to Blade who nodded. "So how's Dusty doing?" Dead silence struck as I suddenly stopped cackling and looked out to where Dusty was still unconscious. Blade glanced at me before answering the question.

"He's still unconscious" sighed Blade and they both watched as I walked off, forgetting all about them. "Belinda's has not been herself lately either."

"I'm sorry to hear that" said the Secretary "Well I've got to be going now. I'll probably see you later." And with that he left. Blade sighed heavily before turning around and coming face to face with Maru.

"Don't worry, I won't tell" grinned Maru.

"Tell what?" asked Blade in confusion.

"That you have a soft spot for Dusty and Belinda" answered the tug. Blade sighed. There was no hiding it from Maru and no use denying it either.

"You're right. It's just that I'm worried about them" said Blade as he looked over to Dusty, not seeing Belinda anywhere in sight. "Dusty should have woken up by now. Plus Belinda is getting more and more depressed."

"Dusty will wake up soon" Maru tried to assure but even now he wasn't so sure himself. "I bet that the moment he dose Belinda will bounce back instantly."

"I hope that you're right Maru" sighed Blade as he turned and left. Maru watched him go.

"So do I Blade. So do I" Maru murmured before heading back to the workshop.

A/N Finally done. For those who have been waiting for a long time for this I do apologise. I got caught up with my schooling. My teachers kept losing my work. Anyway I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review or comment. Thank you.


	23. Chapter 23: Reunited

In the morning of day six of Dusty being out everyone was just mulling about doing whatever they normally did. I was standing out on the cliff with Falco on my shoulder looking homeward. That was until Maru's shout rang out across the base.

"He's awake! I'm a genius."

My head shot up and I looked towards the garage and there was Dusty, slowly rolling out of the garage, looking disoriented and tired but alive. The others were heading over to great the little plane as well. I let out a shrill whinny of joy and spun round, galloping past the other and fling myself at Dusty. He seemed slightly startled but soon smiled as I gave him a gigantic hug, Pegasus style. I could feel the weight that was on my shoulders lifted of and had never been so happy in my life.

"I thought that I would never see you again" I whispered as I back off a bit with a smile.

"Me too" Dusty agreed before noticing to others that had gathered around.

"Mornin', mud dropper." Blade greeted.

"Morning" Dusty greeted tiredly and gave a nod to the fire chief. "How long have I been out?"

"Five days." Blade reported. "Dipper stayed by your side the whole time."

Dusty didn't seem to register that part at first and gave me a look. I nuzzled him happily and he seemed to think that Dipper wasn't watching him creepily or anything. Until Dipper whispered to him.

"I like watching you sleep." She said and Dusty's expression was priceless. To him it is creepy.

Everyone was very happy that Dusty was finally up and about. I for one could touch the heavens for joy and run for miles. It is so good to be alive and to have Dusty by my side again. I could see it all now, we were fighters and fighters never give up. Just then Patch made an announcement over the income.

"All aircraft, the superintendent has entered the base." Patch announced, actually sounding happy about making the announcement. "The superintendent has entered the base."

I flicked my ear and grinned at Dusty's was confused look when especially when Ol' Jammer rolled up with Secretary of the Interior, Pulaski and his assistant following. I think that Dusty was expecting to see Cad because he was the last superintendent. Dusty was trying to put everything together about what happened when he was out. I'll have to tell him all about it later.

"Well, you had us worried, Dusty." Jammer said. "Glad to see you're out and about."

Dusty blinked and stared in shock. "You're the superintendent? What happened to Cad?" Up, defiantly had to catch him up on everything after.

Pulaski chuckled. "Sprinkler saved the lodge but not his job. Secretary of the Interior did the right thing. Put Ranger Jammer here in charge."

"YAY!" Avalanche cheered and I could see the others give a nod of approval.

"If you ask me, things are starting to look up" I chuckled in amusement.

"Maru, did you tell him?" Windlifter asked. Oh right, and now for the surprise.

Maru looked down. "Uh….."

"Tell me what?" Dusty asked nervously shifting slightly.

"I replaced your prop." Maru reported, still looking down before looking up. "Repaired the damaged wing ribs. Hammered out what damage I could. Even got your pontoons back on." He chuckled, and then his face fell. "But your gearbox…" Everyone else looked down at the ground seeming sad about something while Falco hid his head under his wing.

"I know." Dusty sighed looking down at the ground "Thanks for trying, Maru."

"You're welcome!" stated Maru, smiling broadly, as did everyone else and Falco pulled his head back out from behind his wing. I grinned from ear to ear.

"What?" Dusty asked not sure on whether to be confused or excited.

"'Cause you're fixed!" Maru announced happily and Falco squawked happily.

"Wait, really?" Dusty gasped in surprise clearly not knowing what to say next. I grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, that was the hardest thing I've ever done." Maru admitted. "You've got yourself a custom-made, epicyclic, concentric reduction gearbox." Arg. Why did he have to use a long-winded name.

"A new gearbox?" Dusty smiled happily.

"No!" Maru scoffed. "It's better than new!"

"Famous three words" I commented with a grin.

"Crophopper, Autumn, I'd say you've earned your certification." Blade announced. Dusty's and my smiles grew and everyone began cheering happily. I didn't mind that Blade had used my real name. This was a time to rejoice and be happy.

"Yay, we did it" I cried and reared up in joy. Now I felt as though I could touch the sun, stars and moon.

"You bet" Dusty grinned at me. I looked at him and then whisper something to him. The others watched as Dusty first grinned and the chuckled. I winked before turning to Maru.

"Well, now you can have your garage back" I teased playfully while Maru gave me a look. "Oh and one more thing" I walked up and gave an astonished Maru a great big hug. Everyone cracked up at Maru's obvious look of shock.

"Yeah, yeah. I like ya too, now get off" Maru grumbled as I backed of grinning. It was obvious that Maru didn't like hugs very much.

* * *

Later on, after we had all had some breakfast we were all catching up Dusty on what had happened while he was out. Falco was sitting atop of his canopy chittering every now and then.

"The best bit was when Belinda scarified Cad" Drip put in as we told about what happened to Cad. "You've gotta' show him or he'll never believe the next bit."

"Okay, I'll give it a shot" I chuckled as I walked a safe distance away from the group. Dusty was watching curiously as I closed my eyes and concentrated. At first nothing happened and then there was a spark. Then next thing that they knew I was standing there with a black coat, a fiery mane and tail with fiery wings. The only difference from the last time was that my eyes stayed their green colour instead of red. Dusty's jaw dropped at the site of seeing me looking as though someone had set a match to me. I let the fire dwindle away to reveal my unhurt form and normal coat underneath.

"That is unbelievable" Dusty gasped in astonishment and then grinned. "I guess that the Wildfire heard lived up to their name." I grinned sheepishly and wandered back over. It did make sense though because I was from the Wildfire herd though I don't remember any of them being able to do this.

"Tanks" I nodded and grinned. "And that's what scared Cad off."

"I would have been scared as well if that happened in front of me like that as well." Agreed Dusty and smirked "Just don't set the fields in Propwash Junction alight." I gave a look of horror.

"I would never" I swore "I more scared of Dotti and what she might do to me if I did." Blade chuckled.

"Sounds like your Dottie is more just as terrifying as Maru." He retorted and I gave him a look.

"I'm not afraid of Maru" I responded with a shake of my head "I ain't afraid of anything."

"Yes you are" said Dusty.

"No I'm not" I answered back forgetting about my fear of Dottie and losing those close to me.

"Are to"

"Are not"

"Are"

"Aren't"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not"

"What about Dottie?"

"…"

"Give up?"

"Fine you win"

I sat down and pouted as Dusty gave a look of triumph while the others chuckled at my expression. I normally wouldn't give up that easily but I was just too happy to have Dusty back. It was the best thing that had ever happened in my life.

"So, Blade" Dusty said as he turned his attention to the red helicopter. "You never did tell us about how you managed to make Maru let you come after us." Blade looked at the youngster before smirking.

"We'll he didn't let me" answered Blade. "I took off the moment he wasn't watching me." Blade smirked a bit after he said that.

I snickered and nudged Maru with my wing. "He's too cleaver for you." More snickers from me.

"Say that again and I'll have you running faster than the wind." Maru warned me, and I backed off again. Didn't want to push my luck again.

"So Dusty, how about tomorrow we go out for a bit of a spin so you can test out your new gearbox?" Blade asked and Dusty lit up.

"Sounds great" Dusty grinned "It'll be great to be up in the air again.

"I agree" I added and Falco let out a squawk.

* * *

That night everyone slept peacefully once again at Piston Peak. Dusty and I slept peaceful next to each other again without a care in the world. Like a brother and sister.

* * *

 **A/N: All done now. One more chapter to go and this story will be finished.**


End file.
